


Breathe

by Kaioticen



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Drug Addiction, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Health Issues, No Mark Jefferson, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2019-11-03 16:08:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 60,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17880938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaioticen/pseuds/Kaioticen
Summary: New Update: September 18thAmidst his drug use and abuse, Nathan Prescott finds an unexpected friendship with Warren Graham.





	1. Breathe, Part 1: Breathe

Senior year. His last year at Blackwell Academy had just begun and how was Nathan Prescott going to celebrate? By throwing a huge Vortex Club party where everyone got shit-faced at the school’s swimming pool. He loves that feeling. The feeling of being free from all the burden and all the baggage he’s got just for one night. He’s sitting on the couch in the VIP area with a bottle of beer in his hand. He looks out and sees everyone enjoying themselves.

Nathan feels a buzz in his pocket and grunts in distress when he sees his father’s caller ID on his phone. 

“Hey Vic, I’m gonna step out for a minute.” He told his friend next to him and the boy heads towards the school parking lot and answers the call next to his red pickup truck. There’s not a soul outside since mostly everyone’s at the party, and he could still hear the music blasting through his ears clearly. He hits the green button on his phone, preparing for the worst. Why else would his father be calling him on a Saturday night other than to be upset with his disappointment of a son.

~~~

Warren’s in his room, frantically looking for his headset in his dorm room to play Overwatch with his online friends.

“Come on… Come on… It has to be here somewhere…” He quietly says to himself looking through various drawers in his room, under his bed and mattress. Opening his closet, he digs under a pile of dirty clothes and spots the thing he was looking for. “Finally.” He grabs the headset and heads to his computer.

Video games is one of Warren’s favorite Saturday night activity aside from binge-watching TV shows and movies. He wouldn’t want anything more. There was a Vortex party going on tonight but Warren never bothered to go to any of them. The boy wasn’t into the party scene and was not interested in hanging out with elitist kids who are high and drunk off their ass. 

A few matches go by, Warren losing every single one of them. Feeling stressed, he looks out the window. There was only the view of trees, the school was on the other side but he could hear the music blasting so loud from the pool. He sighed and got up from his chair, putting his shoes on. Maybe a short walk around campus would help him calm down from his losing streak before he breaks the screen of his monitor. 

Humming to the music playing in his headphones, the boy walked past the school entrance, heading towards the swimming pool. He sees a couple making out near the entrance and rolls his eyes. Warren takes a turn towards the parking lot and heads down the stairs. He stops when he hears faint yelling through the party’s music and his own and takes the headphones off. Intrigued by what going on, he hides near a car. 

Sure he didn’t care about the party but Warren genuinely cares about the well being of people around him. He pops his head out to see what was going on. His hazel eyes widen. It was just Nathan, pacing around near his car, arguing with someone on the phone. By the tone of the rich boy’s voice, he could tell how intense the conversation was.

“I don’t know, dad!” He screamed. “I don’t get it, I- NO!” Nathan looks as if he could lift his car and throw it at a someone.

He grunts and hangs up, violently throwing the phone into the cargo bed of his pickup truck. He sits on the curb with his hands in his face, crying. Warren couldn’t help but feel bad for the boy. The two never really interacted much with each other but the times they have, it would often be Nathan making fun of him. It was weird seeing him look so vulnerable and not so confident but also an ass. His parents always taught him to do the right thing no matter who it involves, no matter the situation. With his parents' conscience haunting his mind, Warren sighs to himself and decides to approach the young man and tries to clear his throat to get his attention. Nathan looks up shocked, quickly wiping the tears away and looks to the side to avoid eye contact. 

“What do you want?” He struggled to let out. 

“Mind if I join you?” Nathan ignores the question. Warren just assumed that silence meant that he didn’t mind so he takes a seat next to him. “Are you alright?”

“Mind your own fucking business. Why would you care?” He responds, looking the opposite direction from where Warren is. 

“It seems like things got really heated for a moment there.” Nathan covers his eyes with one of his hands but Warren could clearly see the tears rolling down his cheeks. Nathan couldn’t believe that out of all people, the nerd what sitting with him, watching him in his worst state. Warren didn’t know what else to do so he attempts to put an arm around the distraught boy, hoping it’ll calm it down.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” He throws Warren’s arm off of him. “I don’t like it when people touch me.” He says quietly. Nathan gets even more annoyed when Warren decides to give him a full on hug instead. “I said get off of me!” He barely tries to get his arms off of him but gives in and breaks down in tears again as he holds onto Warren’s arms in the hug. 

“Breathe. Just breathe. Deep breaths. In and out.” He hears Warren whisper to him. He doesn’t know why but Nathan found Warren’s hug oddly comforting. The crying boy does as he’s told and feels more calm and relaxed. He can’t remember the last him someone hugged him. He vaguely remembers his sister giving him one before she left the family. After a while, he lets go and Warren pulls back. 

“Why are you still here?” Nathan whispers.

“Because you were crying.”

“I make fun go you, I give you shit at school. Why would you want to be with me right now?” He finally makes eye contact with Warren. 

“My mom taught me that if I see someone hurting, I shouldn’t look away. We need to take care of each other, even if we don’t get along. I don’t know what you’re going through but I just felt like you needed someone here.” Nathan doesn’t say anything. He just looks at Warren with his puffy eyes from all the tears. 

Nathan was always quick to shoot people down. No one in his life really cared about him. The Vortex club? Aside from Victoria, most of them only hang with Nathan for drugs and because his dad’s rich. They think knowing a Prescott would benefit their own, selfish futures. His dad certainly doesn’t give a shit about him; he and his mom barely say much to each other. He had his sister, Kristine, until she got cut off by their parents and moved to Brazil. She ran away when Nathan needed her most. 

After Kristen left, Nathan was drawn to the ideas of drugs and alcohol. He had heard that it makes people feel better, feel really great, really high. He fell into that addiction. They were his go-to source of happiness whenever something shitty was going on between him and his family. It was odd that Nathan felt that similar feeling with Warren next to him. 

“Is it okay if I asked what happened?” Warren asked. 

“It was my dad on the phone. He found the report card I hid from him when Junior year ended and he’s furious at how bad I did in almost every class. Every class except photography which to him is useless.” 

“I saw one of your photos is hanging in the hallway with other students. Your composition’s really great.”

“I know.” Warren lets out a laugh.

“Wow, you don’t even try to be humble, huh? Is that what made you cry? That your dad yelled at you for your grades?” Nathan shakes his head.

“It was what he said after.” _You’re a fucking disappointment. A failure and an embarrassment to the family name. Why couldn’t I have a different son born? You’re a useless piece of shit who doesn’t care about anything else other than getting drunk and high off your ass. When will you ever learn to be the person I want you to be._ His father’s words haunt his ears. “But I don’t want to talk about it.” 

Warren sees the sadness in the boy's eyes. He doesn’t want to push Nathan’s button further than he already has tonight. It was clear he wasn’t ready to talk about what really upset him. Warren looked back up at the pool. He sees the lights flashing through the windows and the music is still blasting. He begins to think about the times Nathan and the Vortex Club has tormented him and how weird it is that Nathan is with him now.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” Nathan’s voice interrupted his thoughts and he gives his attention to the boy. “Why didn’t you let go? Of the hug I mean. It was pretty long.”

“I never let go of a hug first. Sometimes you don’t know what people are going through and sometimes you don’t know how long they need a hug for.” Warren looks up at the night sky and sees the light on a plane flying by as if it were a moving star. It was cloudy so he couldn’t see the stars. It’s a shame because he loves looking at them every night. There’s something about space that fascinates him so much. The mystery that is the universe. No one really knows what’s out there but someone’s gotta take the risk to explore the universe. To see what’s really out there, what it’s really like. 

Nathan follows his eyes and looks up at the sky as well. “The clouds are covering the stars.”

“Yeah, but another night they’ll show their beauty again instead of hiding behind shadows.” Warren gets up from the curb and faces Nathan. “Wanna hear a joke?” 

“If you’re going to make a cheesy dad joke then fuck you.” 

“Hey, did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? It had great food but there was no atmosphere.” Warren laughs at his own joke.

“Oh my God, you’re a fucking idiot. What did I just say?”

“You like it? I have a whole book full of them.”

“Maybe I’ll have to break into your dorm and burn that shit to the ground.” Nathan laughs. It was the first time he genuinely laughed in a while. All because the nerd in front of him made a lame joke. 

“You should do that more.”

“Do what?”

“Smile and laugh. I’ve never seen your face like that before. Every time I saw you in either in the hallways or in the dorms, you’ve always got this serious, angry look on your face. It just reeks of teen angst all the time.” 

“Gee, thanks, Warren. That totally makes me feel better about myself.” 

“Nathan!” His head shoots up and he sees Victoria at the end of the parking lot. “C’mon, everyone’s about to take shots!” 

Warren turns to look at her. “Looks like you’re being summoned.” He lets out his hand. Nathan stares at it and looks at him. He has a stupid smile on his face that he thinks is adorable. He takes his hand and gets up from the curb. “Uh, I guess I’ll see you around?” 

“Maybe.” Nathan says as he takes his phone from the cargo bed and walks towards Victoria.

“What were you doing with Warren?” Victoria asks, starring back at the nerd who’s still next to Nathan’s car.

“I don’t know. Being a fucking weirdo. Let’s go before all the shots are gone.” They head to the pool with Nathan trailing behind Victoria. He turns around and gives Warren a slight smile and a small wave. Warren scoffs and waves back.

_Back to playing Overwatch, I guess._ Warren thought to himself as he decides to head back to his dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I haven't written fanfiction for a few years now but I've decided to jump back into it.  
> Also, I'm really late in joining this fandom. I finished the game a few weeks ago and loved it. I couldn't stop thinking about it so I decided to write about it!  
> This is the first chapter out of many that will come. I'm pretty excited to write what's to come in the story in the future.  
> I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to read it!


	2. Goodnight n Go

The final school bell of the day rang and all the students are rushing out the door. Nathan goes to sit under one of the trees, looking through all the photos he took today on his DSLR. He hears a familiar laugh from last night coming from the front entrance of Blackwell. Nathan turns his head to see Warren walking down the steps with Max Caulfield. He doesn’t think much of Max, only that he doesn’t like her. The two sit at one of the wooden tables laughing about something. Probably one of Warren’s lame jokes like the one he told him last night. He scoffs but raises the camera and with the click of a button, he captures an image of Warren laughing. Mouth open, lips wide, teeth showing; Nathan couldn’t imagine seeing a better smile.

“Oh my God, you would not believe the day I had.” Victoria’s voiced from behind shocked him and he quickly turned off his camera. “Max Caulfield was being her usual bitchy self but worse. She ‘accidentally’ spilled milk all over me today at lunch and she just got off scot-free. I’m so gonna fuck up her work later.” She takes a seat on the lawn in front of him. “Well enough about me, can I see some of the photos you took today?” She gestures towards his camera.

“No! I mean, they’re not really that great. I need to touch them up on my computer before I show anyone.” Victoria rolls her eyes and mutters a ‘whatever.’ 

“So I was thinking that the club should throw another party just for the hell of it next week. We could either have a Hawaiian theme or an underwater theme. I haven’t decided yet so I’ll need your input on that. I also need you to get into contact with your dealer to bring more goodies and spice up the fun.” Nathan begins to tune her out. His gaze shift from the motormouth to the same boy he took a photo of. He’s showing Max something on his phone that’s making him laugh his ass off while Max looks rather disgusted. He could clearly read her lips saying ‘That’s gross.’ Nonetheless, his eyes are still focusing on the smile on the boy’s face, like he’s addicted to it.

Sometimes he likes to imagine what his life would be like if things were different if things were better for him. Maybe his parents would actually be proud of him. Maybe he’d have more than Victoria as a real friend. Maybe he wouldn’t have been such an ass to almost everyone around him. Maybe someone would’ve like Nathan for Nathan and not give a shit about what his last name is. His thoughts wander to what happened last night. It was weird how easy it was for him to open up to Warren. Could it have been because the boy wouldn’t stop leaving him alone? Or was it that there was someone next to him at his lowest point, willing to listen to whatever Nathan had to lay on him. There were too many questions he wanted answers to. 

Eyes still fixated on the boy, he sees him and his friend walk over to the school bus that takes them downtown. He almost feels disappointed that he wouldn’t be in his sights the moment he gets on that bus.

“Nathan.” He hears Victoria calling out to him. “Hello? Nathan, did you just hear anything I just said?”

“Uh, yeah. Party this weekend. Sounds good.”

“So you’re gonna contact your dealer. Right. And don’t forget that-“

“Sorry, Vic. I’ve got a massive headache. Listen, I’d really love to talk some more but I just need to take a little rest in my dorm.” Nathan gets up from the ground and brushes some blades of grass off his pants. “I’ll see you tomorrow, cool?” Victoria doesn’t hide that her face is a little confused at the boy’s odd behavior. Nathan starts to walk towards the Prescott dormitory. It wasn’t a lie. He really did have a headache. After all, it had been a while since he last took the medication his therapist prescribed for him.

He dreaded every time he was forced to see the therapist his father made him go to. There was something that Nathan didn’t like about talking to a complete stranger about his feelings. Sure he did it with Warren, who he considers more of an acquaintance at school, but the difference was that Warren genuinely cared while the shrink was being paid by his father. He could give the therapist the benefit of the doubt if they could really help. But to him, it just wasn’t working, no matter how many times he went. Could there be something missing? Could that missing thing have been part of the reason why therapy wasn’t working for him?

Nathan takes out the key from his pocket and unlocks his dorm room. The blinds are still shut, only allowing a little bit of light to come through. He just preferred his room that way. Setting his keys and camera on his nightstand, he picks up one of the orange prescription bottles. The boy sits on his bed, only to stare at the bottle in his hand. There was still two-thirds of the pills that have not been taken. Taking that thing was torturous for him and he wishes he didn’t need to take anything just like any ‘normal’ person.

Sighing to himself, he pops two of the pills out and hesitates as he looks at them. It’s almost as if the capsules are mocking him, telling him that he isn’t sane enough, that he wouldn’t last in this world if he didn’t consume them. 

_Put those thoughts away._ He tries to tell himself. _Just take them. Take them, and you’ll be normal. You’ll be like everyone else._ Popping them both in his mouth, he quickly drowns them with water as they go down his throat. His stomach doesn’t feel well afterward and it didn’t help that his headache wasn’t gone either. Sleep. He needed some rest especially after being so hammered from last night, trying to forget everything his father said to him over the phone. 

Nathan kicks off his shoes and climbs into his covers. A few minutes pass and he’s annoyed that his mind isn’t being put to rest. He turns towards his nightstand and presses the play button on his Bluetooth speaker. The room begins to fill with the sound of whales and it makes Nathan feel happy. It puts his mind into a state of meditation and before he knew it, he was already asleep. 

By the time he was awake, the room was in complete darkness. Looking at the time on his phone, it was already 7 PM. He gets out of bed, stretching his arms out. The rest did him good as he no longer felt the need to throw up. Nathan walks towards his desk with his camera in his hand. There were no other plans for him for the rest of the night and homework didn’t exist in his mind. The photos on his SD card transfer onto his computer. He might as well start editing some of his photos instead of sitting on his bed and self-loathing himself. 

The first photo he opens in Photoshop is the picture of Warren he took. He just loved seeing the joy on the boy’s face. At least there was someone out there enjoying what life had to offer. He starts to control the depth in the background, blurring out the green trees, making Warren pop in the photo. He cropped it so you could only see the boy from the chest up, no longer seeing his meow box shirt. Majority of the photos Nathan took were dark and depressing, although they were all very well shot, they seemed too eerie for everyone else. Photographs of dead animals aren’t that well perceived by children. However, this one was quite the departure from his usual works. 

He went on to color correct the photo. Nathan usually left his photos black and white but he was on fence of what to do for the photo of Warren. Keeping it monochromatic would help with the consistency in all of his works but there was something charming about keeping it in colors. Like it gives the photo life. Deciding he likes how it currently is, he tries to make the green in the blurred out background a little more vibrant. It gives the boy an almost glowing effect. The work was finished and Nathan was almost proud of what he did to the image. He creates a new folder on his desktop and names it ‘Warren Graham.’ He then drags the photo to that folder. _This isn’t weird. I’m just organizing my photos, that’s all._ He thinks to himself, justifying his reasoning for having that folder.

His stomach begins to growl. It was already eight and he hadn’t eaten since lunch, which wasn’t much. He puts his shoes on and decides to head to the kitchen on the third floor of the dorms. He could use something more filling but ramen is good enough for the night. Nathan goes to lock his dorm and hears explosions coming from the dorm across from him, Warren’s room. He puts his ear against the door and hears Warren gasping at something that’s going on in the movie. Intrigued by what’s going on, he knocks on the boy’s door. The sound from the film is paused and it only takes Warren a moment to open the door. His face is shocked when he realizes Nathan is standing in front of his room. 

“Nathan? What’s up? Did you need something?” 

“No, just curious about what you were watching.” 

“I was just re-watching Avengers: Infinity War because that movie is just so mind-blowing. Do you want to watch it with me? I wouldn’t mind some company. Plus I have leftovers from Two Whales. More than enough than I can finish myself.” Warren opens the door wider revealing the laptop on his bed with a takeout bag from the diner. His stomach grumbles again. Two Whales leftovers sounded a lot better than ramen right now. Nathan agrees and Warren lets him into his room. 

He takes in the surrounding around him. He had never seen what Warren’s room was like, only bits of it whenever he walked by the room and the boy walks in or comes out of it. There were movie posters all around the room ranging from various genres. From sci-fi to action and animation. His dorm also did not have a lack of science and space elements to it. Albert Einstein had a place on the back of Warren’s door while he had a pin of the Milky Way sticking on his bulletin board. The shelf was really fascinating to him; there weren’t any DVDs, just a lot of figures and statues from all sorts of movies, TV shows, and video games. There were even books on various scientific topics. Warren had a tiny coffee table in his room that had a giant book that appears to be filled with images from space, taken by the Hubble telescope. 

“You seem to be really big on movies, but it doesn’t seem like you have much of a collection.” Nathan says to him, comparing his own shelf full of DVDs of movies with dark themes. 

“That’s because I pirate them all onto my flash drive.” Warren lets out an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “I would have bought them all but they’re just really expensive.” Warren goes to sit on his bed and he pats on the space next to him, signaling Nathan to sit with him. “You want me to start over? I’m only a third of the way through but I don’t mind seeing it all again.”

“What did you say we were watching again? Something Avengers? I don’t think I’ve seen any of them?”

“Wait a minute, you’ve never seen any of the Marvel movies?” Nathan shakes his head. It was never really a genre he had explored. He usually liked sticking with watching movies with dark elements in them. A part of him was always scared that people would make fun of him if he liked something that would be remotely considered geeky. “Okay, we can’t watch this one. We need to start from the very beginning with Iron Man. Then after we watch all the eighteen films that came before it, we can go back to Infinity War.”

“Wait a minute, the other eighteen? There are nineteen films in this franchise?”

“With many more in the works which means we need you to get caught up ASAP.” 

“Hold on, I didn’t agree to this commitment.” 

“Too late.” Warren opens up Iron Man on his laptop and movie begins to play. He hands Nathan some chicken tenders and fries, muttering a ‘Thanks’ to the boy. Warren takes a bite out of his half-eaten burger. 

His eyes are focused on the movie. It was odd to have someone watching a film with him. He usually watched movies by himself on his projector in his dorm. Victoria wasn’t a fan of what Nathan liked to watch and Nathan wasn’t a fan of the romantic comedies that the other girl loved seeing. He just found them to be ridiculously unrealistic. Events in those movies can’t possibly happen in real life, especially to him. Nathan would just reject every time Victoria invited him to see a movie but he couldn’t bear to watch those type of films and Victoria does the same when Nathan wanted to see something but it creeped her out. Going to the drive-in or the theater alone wasn’t an option even though he left that way most of the time. He could only imagine himself being taunted for being a loner Prescott. None the other Vortex club members took an interest in his is activities that don’t include alcohol and drugs. 

They were halfway through the film which to Nathan’s own surprise, he was actually really enjoying. He thinks maybe branching into more film genres isn’t such a bad idea. He eyes slowly shift to the boy who’s still wearing the meow box shirt from earlier in the day. Warren’s eyes are so focused on what’s happening on screen with a slight smile of joy on his face, watching Tony Stark put on his armor. 

“I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers initiative.” Were the last words he heard before the movie ended. Warren looked so excited, he asked about his thought on the film.

“It wasn’t bad. Quite enjoyable.” 

“What do you mean ‘It wasn’t bad’? It was amazing, man!” He gives Nathan a playful push of the shoulders. “You up for the next one?” And he agreed. By the time the third movie ended, it was already three in the morning. The two boys were too busy enjoying the time with each other to even notice how late it was. 

“Damn, it’s already 3 AM? Looks like we’ll have to save the next one for another night.” Warren says to him. “We are going to watch the rest of the movies together, right?”

“Definitely.” Nathan gets off of the bed and Warren follows suit as he leads him to the door.

“Goodnight, Nathan.”

“Goodnight.” Nathan says with a smile. He heads to the bathroom to wash-up before bed. Tonight wasn’t such a bad night. For once it was actually great.

~~~

The end of the week came by fast and there was going to be another Vortex club party tonight. It was the last period of the day and Nathan is at Rachel’s locker, inviting her to the party. They talked from time to time but he’s not as close to her like Victoria. The only thing that set her apart from the rest of the people he knew in his life was that she wasn’t fake. At least she doesn’t appear so to him.

“Sorry, Nathan. I’d love to come but Max invited me to hang out with Warren.”

“Warren? Hang out to do what?”

“Warren just bought a new TV for his room and he wanted to celebrate by hosting a little get together in his dorm.” Nathan was almost hurt that Warren didn’t invite him. Why would he? They only hung out about once. It’s possible that Warren didn’t see the two of them as friends who could casually hang out with one another other yet. But then why would he invite him to keep watching the Marvel movies with him? He almost wanted to confront Warren about this. And Warren bought a TV? Nathan thought it was odd since he told him earlier in the week that he was complaining about how expensive it was to buy movies. 

“Anyway, I’ll see you later, Nate. I have to get to class which you should be doing too.” She closes her locker and heads into the classroom. Nathan sighs heavily as he really isn’t in the mood to go to his last class. The school day was almost over and he couldn’t wait to destress. 

Evening had arrived and Nathan struggles to figure out what to wear. Victoria decided on an underwater theme so he thought something blue would be appropriate attire. He spots a blue sweater in the back of his closet, it was something he hadn’t worn since his earlier years at Blackwell. Deciding that he wanted to please Victoria by at least matching the color scheme of the party, he reluctantly takes off his red jacket and puts the sweater over his t-shirt. 

As he exits the dorm, he sees Max and Chloe Price walking in his direction, assuming they’re there for Warren’s little get together. He wasn’t the biggest fan of Chloe, and he actually had a reason for it as they would tend to fight over drugs and money. He was ecstatic to find out she had been expelled from attending the school. 

“What’s up, twink?” Chloe says as she and Max walk past him. 

“Get the fuck out of my face.” _Why can’t Warren get better friends?_ He thought but then again, who is he to judge. He made his way to the school’s indoor swimming pool where the party was already in full effect and finds the Vortex club in the VIP section.

Victoria greets him and asks where the drugs are. Nathan freezes. He completely forgot about contacting Frank Bowser, his drug dealer, about them. His mind was too distracted by other thoughts aside from drugs for the first time in a while. Victoria thought the party was going to be lame since they only had booze to have fun with. 

Nathan went to sit on the couch. He still wasn’t in the greatest mood and was almost holding a grudge against Warren for not inviting him to the get together that was happening in his room. Everyone around is dancing and having a great time but he was just sulking. The only thing he planned to do that night was to have a drink while scrolling through his phone and being called a buzzkill by Victoria. He saw that Rachel had recently updated her Instagram story. It was probably her in Warren’s room. He taps on the circle icon and sees her and Warren in a selfie with a plate of California rolls. He could tell from the background that they were making it themselves. The next story was an image of Chloe getting soy sauce stain on her shirt while looking really upset a Max who looks guilty, like she was the one who spilt it on her. By the looks of things, Warren seems to be having a great time without his presence. He wasn’t even enjoying himself at the party and without a thought, he just left. Victoria didn’t even notice that he was gone. 

He ended up in front of Warren’s door once again and knocks on the door. It was opened almost immediately by Warren himself. Like last time, his face was full of shock.

“Why are you always so surprised to see me at your door?” Nathan asks him.

“Because that usually doesn’t happen.”

“You should get used to it then.” He lets himself into the room.

“Are you implying that this is gonna be a regular thing?” And Nathan only mutters a ‘Maybe.’ He looks around the room and sees Chloe and Max with a shock on their face as well. It seems like he has that effect on people now. Rachel was there but it seemed like she was happy that Nathan was there. She was cutting the California roll that he assumes she just rolled up. There were ingredients all over the room and a horribly low budget sci-fi movie playing on Warren’s new TV. Warren suggests that he sits next to him on the floor where his coffee table is. 

“How good are your cooking skills?” Warren asks him. Nathan had zero experience in that category. His father and mother never cooked at home, they always hired someone to do it for them. He felt no need to learn something like that if he can get someone else to do it for him. Though, a part of Nathan sometimes wished that his parents did cook at home so they could enjoy a meal together that wasn’t made by someone who was being paid by his father for once.

“I don’t know how.”

“That’s alright. It’s something that everyone can easily learn. I’ll even teach you.” He pulls a sheet of seaweed out of its plastic packaging. “Well we’re not dealing with a stove this time so you can’t burn anything. Unless you somehow magically find a way to do so then I’d totally be impressed.” He pulls out another sheet but this time places it in front of Nathan. “It’ll be easy, we’re just going to be putting things together on this one sheet. Just follow what I do.” Warren wets the sheet with a tiny bit of water and adds sushi rice and Nathan does the same. “Now this part is really hard to mess up. You just add all of these along the bottom part of the rice.” He sees Warren adding cucumbers, avocado and tobiko amongst other ingredients and squirting a sauce that is a mixture of sriracha and mayonnaise. 

Nathan watches Warren roll up all the ingredients. He tries to do the same but it ends up falling apart. Chloe breakout into a laugh.

“My night has officially been made. It even makes up for the soy sauce you got on me, Max.” Chloe says, making full of the boy’s failure. 

“What the fuck ever” Nathan turns to Warren. “I don’t think I made it tight enough.” He said with disappointment. Warren reassures him that it’s alright and they try it one more time, this time succeeding. “Suck it, bitch.” He tells Chloe.

“I’d rather not.” The room erupts with laughter with Max complaining about the lame joke she just made. Time passes as the group enjoys the food they made together and making fun of the movie in front of them. It was 10 PM by the time everything had settled down. The girls just left leaving only Warren and Nathan in the room. Warren complained about how they made so much food, their stomachs felt sick despite finishing it all. They were picking up all the trash left behind and cleaning up the mess of food. 

“Nathan, you really didn’t need to stay behind and help. I would’ve been fine cleaning this all up on my own.” 

“It’s not a big deal. I’m right across from you. I’d feel guilty if I just left knowing you had to clean all of this up yourself.” He says as he stacks up all the dirty bowls and plates. By the time they got Warren’s room looking back to normal, an hour had already past. Warren attempts to carry the heavy stacks of plates and bowls to the kitchen but Nathan still insisted to help. As they start to clean the dishes together, Nathan couldn’t help but wonder why Warren never asked him to hang out. 

“I mean I tried texting you when you gave me your number that night we were having a marathon but I just kept getting ‘Who’s Nathan?’ as a reply so I just assumed you typed it in wrong or you wanted to pull some kind of prank on me.” He chuckles. “I even tried knocking on your door but I never got any answer and whenever I saw you in school, you were with Victoria.”

“What’s wrong with Victoria?”

“She can be a little, how do I put it? Intimidating.” Nathan laughs. He doesn’t blame Warren for thinking that way. Victoria can be a little aggressive at getting what she wants. 

“You know, I’m surprised you bought that TV. It’s nice but you were complaining about the cost of movies.”

“I know but I saw this as an investment. I work part-time at a shop downtown and saved up enough to buy it. Now we don’t have to crowd around the tiny screen on my laptop.”

“You know, I have a projector in my room. We could’ve just used that. Besides, nobody asked you to buy a TV just to watch movies with me.”

“I never said it was just for you. I was planning to buy one a long time ago. It was only now that I had enough to get one.” 

Exhausted they were finally finished with the dishes until a mischievous thought appeared in Warren’s mind. 

“Oh, I think we missed something.” Warren says looking into the soapy sink with Nathan asking ‘Where?’ Nathan doesn’t see anything. “Right here.” Nathan looks up from the sink and Warren sprays his face with the hose. 

“You’re a dead motherfucker, Graham.” Nathan takes the suds from the sink and throws it at Warren’s face. Luckily he dodges it and continues to spray Nathan who’s begging for him to stop as he’s laughing. Nathan grabs a bowl and scoops up some of the water and suds which successfully hits Warren this time. He stands still feeling victorious until he is sprayed with water one last time. “I thought we were done cleaning for the night.” They look around and there’s water all over the kitchen. Warren grabs a roll of paper towels and hands some to Nathan as they try to dry everything up. 

“Can I ask you a favor?” Warren asks him.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to ask after what you just did to me.” 

“What are you doing tomorrow evening?” He proceeds anyway. 

“Nothing really. Why?”

“Good. I need help with something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed chapter 2! The next chapter is currently in the works and should be out within a few days. Thanks for taking the time to read this!


	3. Magnetic Moon

Warren stands in the middle of Nathan’s room, trying to take in the whole environment. It was creepy in the sense that Nathan hangs BDSM photos in his room, wondering if he took those photos himself or was just a fan. He also wasn’t a fan of how dark his room was despite it being morning. The two didn’t even need to meet each other until the evening at Warren’s request for assistance with who knows what. It was Nathan’s idea to invite the boy over to continue their Marvel marathon until evening hit. By the looks on his face, Nathan thought he should have warned Warren about the contents in his room. _He’s so not into these posters._ He thinks to himself. 

“Your room is… charming. It surely screams ‘Nathan’ to me.” Warren wasn’t quite sure what to say. “That projector is sweet.” He says, pointing at the object that hangs down from the ceiling. The boy starts to walk over to the bookshelf. “And this film collection is quite impressive. A lot of old and obscure movies that I’ve never even seen.” He tries his best to ignore three of the BDSM photos in front of it. 

“I guess that calls for another marathon after our Marvel one, right?” Warren liked that idea. He thought that the Marvel marathon was going to be a one and done deal. It was reassuring to know that Nathan also wanted to continue watching films together. 

“Is there a particular film that you recommend?” 

“The last two films I saw were directed by Darren Aronofsky. The first one is ‘Black Swan’.” He pulls it out from the shelf and hands it to Warren. “The general theme is about a starving artist. See, Natalie Portman plays a ballet dancer who struggles with her sanity throughout the film. The other one is called ‘mother!’” He takes it off the bookcase and hands it to the boy again. The cover is an illustration of Jennifer Lawrence who holds her own bleeding heart in her hands, ripped out from her chest. _Nathan certainly has his interests._ Warren takes note. “Now that's what I call a fucked up movie.” 

“That’s so disgusting but it totally seems like something you would watch.” Warren takes a seat on the bed and he notices a poster on the wall that seemed almost out of place. It was from an art gallery titled “New Romantics” from 2009. It would’ve never occurred to Warren that the boy would be remotely interested in a show like that. “Who knew there was a light side to Nathan Prescott.” He said while pointing to the poster. 

“It was an art gallery that my sister took me to. My first one actually. It’s how I got into photography in the first place.” He stares at the poster. Whenever he looks at it, it always brings him good memories with Kristine. “Anyway, I’m starving so how about we head to Two Whales for some breakfast before we see 'Thor'? It’s on me.” 

Warren looks at the time on his phone. “The bus doesn’t leave town until 15 more minutes so why not?”

“The bus? We’re not freshmen. We’ll take my car.” Nathan grabs the keys from his desk and Warren follows him out the door. 

As they approach the red pick-up truck, Warren’s mind couldn’t help but wander to the night he saw Nathan so vulnerable. The same thought appeared in the mind of the boy walking next to him. Only a week had gone by and so much had changed for the two boys, finding themselves more comfortable around each other. There wasn’t much conversation going on during most of the ride there, but that wasn’t a problem for either of them. It was mainly peaceful, driving around a small town that was just waking up. 

As they pulled into the parking lot, Nathan noticed Frank’s RV immediately. It was difficult for him to resist the temptation of knocking on the man’s door, but he was able to do. It was only for the fact that Warren was with him. They enter the diner and Warren was immediately greeted by Joyce Price, Chloe’s mother. He thought she was a good woman who was trying her best to be a good mother for her only child. She pulled the boy into a tight embrace before they took a seat at a booth. 

“What will you guys be having this fine morning?” Joyce asked them.

“Just some pancakes, bacon and eggs. Oh and a black coffee” Warren told her and Nathan asked for the same.

“Sounds good. Warren, I’m going to miss you when you leave for college. Tell your family I said hi when you’re back in Seattle.” Joyce walks away, telling them their order will be ready soon. 

“Seattle? I always thought you were from Arcadia Bay,” said Nathan.

“I am. Lived here my whole life until my dad got a job offer in Seattle. Since I dorm at Blackwell, I never really went anywhere.” 

“I was actually born in Fort Lauderdale down in Florida but we moved here when I was a baby. After my grandfather died, my dad had to take over the family business. Speaking of college, have you thought about applying anywhere?” 

“Yeah but they’re all on the east coast. Mainly in Boston and New York. My top choices are MIT, Columbia University or Harvard. Maybe that last one’s just a pipe dream. I don’t know. The east coast is just so full of culture and education. I kind of want to surround myself with that.”

“I think you just offended everyone on the west coast, Warren. You really want to be surrounded by the fast pace the east has?” Warren only shrugged. He just wanted something different than what Arcadia Bay had to offer. Someplace that would benefit his love for science.

Nathan took a moment to think about what the boy in front of him said. New York didn’t seem that bad, and it was on the other side of the country, away from his family. Continuing his studies at an art college sounded like the ideal plan for himself, but he knew that would never pass with his father. The Prescott’s always go to Stanford, minus Kristine, it was a family tradition. 

“My dad wants me to get into Stanford to study business down in California. Solely because he and everyone else in my family went there.”

“Never pictured you as a Stanford guy. I’ve always thought you’d go to some art school. Hey, you know what another region of the US excels in art? The northeast. You could try to apply to the School of Visual Arts in New York.”

“Like my dad would ever let me. Besides, I don’t think my portfolio would be good enough to get accepted there.” It was the truth. Normally he’d be boasting about his photography skills around the school but when he’d have to show the world his art, he was terrified of how people will judge. People around him said that his photos were great, but what if the real industry professionals didn’t? He doesn’t know if he wants to find that answer out. 

“Listen, Nate. Can I call you that?” He tells him 'No' but Warren still went with it anyway. “Let me give you a little tip, Nate. Stop giving a shit about what your dad wants for you and think about what you want for yourself.” 

Joyce arrives at the table again, placing the two plates in front of the boys. “Eat up, boys. And between you and me.” She leans in a little closer. “I snuck in some extra bacon for you guys. But don’t tell my boss I did that.” She says in a hushed tone, giving a wink to Warren before heading back to the counter. It was nice to have a friend whose mom works at the diner to the point you get free food sometimes. Warren takes the syrup and drowns his pancakes in them. 

“Are there even any pancakes left under all that maple?”

“Shut up. I don’t judge how you like to eat your food in tiny, tiny bites.” He points to Nathan’s fork that barely has a small chunk of the pancake. 

They continued to eat in silence. Warren was a pretty quick eater and it probably helps that he takes gigantic bites of every piece. Nathan observes the boy only to shift his gaze to the window on the other side of the diner. He could still see Frank’s RV. Nathan was tapping one of his feet rapidly. He was out of drugs and had enough cash on him to buy some more for himself and future Vortex parties. The temptation to go over there and get some was getting harder and harder to resist. Warren began talking to him about something but it was difficult for him to concentrate on the conversation. His eyes keep on shifting between the boy and the RV, trying to at least pretend that he was paying attention. 

Nathan got up from the booth. “I’m going to be right back.” He goes out the door leaving Warren confused. Nathan rapidly knocks on Frank’s door until it opens. 

“Well if it isn’t the Rott.” Frank leans on the side of his door frame with a joint in his hand. “What you do want, kid?”

“I need a refill on my usual.” Nathan said. He was a little shaky and Frank could tell that the kid was desperate to get another dose of his addiction. It seemed to him that he’s been off of it for almost a week.

“Sure, but I want double.” Nathan felt like his breathing almost stopped but he eventually gave in. He’d pay any price just to make his body feel normal again. “Pleasure doing business with you.” Frank heads back into his RV for a moment to give the boy the supplies. He hands hit to Nathan who hides in his jacket. Just as Frank was about to shut the door, he stops it from being closed. Just one puff of weed and Nathan will be fine for the rest of the day. “Fine.” He hands Nathan the joint and takes a puff out of it. Once was good enough, he didn’t want the smell getting attached to him while hanging out with Warren. There wasn’t even a goodbye exchanged between the two of them, there never was. Frank doesn’t even like Nathan quite frankly. It was the ignorant attitude that the boy always carried around with him that turn off the man. But the boy had money and that was enough for him to establish a drug relationship with. 

As Nathan heads back to the diner, there was a vibration in his pocket. It was his father calling again. He grumped in dismay as he almost rejected the call but he knows how his father would react if he did so. The punishments he received from him were always frightening, and it’s something Nathan hates having to be constantly playing in his mind. He answers the phone and of course, it begins with Sean Prescott yelling at his son. Nathan can’t seem to do anything right in his eyes. 

“Yeah, I got it.” He hangs up the phone. His dad was complaining about Nathan missing his last few therapy appointments. The therapist was bound to tell him at some point and now he’s being forced to go once again. His father only wanted him to go to keep up the Prescott image. Maybe he needs one more puff of that joint. Nathan shook his head. He just needed to get back to the diner where Warren is. 

“What were you doing in the parking lot?” Warren asked when Nathan took his seat in the booth again. 

“I just needed to talk to someone I know.” He said, being purposefully vague. They finished up their breakfast before Warren says his goodbye to Joyce. 

They spent the rest of the day chilling out in Nathan’s room, continuing their marathon on his projector. Warren and Nathan were sitting next to each other on his bed, finishing up the sixth movie on their list. It wasn’t until Warren looked at the clock before he decided that it was time to go do the thing he had planned. He still never told Nathan despite him constantly asking throughout the films what he needed help with. Warren got off the bed and tossed Nathan’s keys to the boy. He grabbed his camera gear at the request of Warren, still wondering what he had to do. They step outside the dorm and sunset has just hit Arcadia Bay. 

“Just follow where the computer lady tells you to go.” Warren says as he punches in the address in Nathan’s GPS. It only took 20 minutes to get to their destination and he was sure they weren’t in Arcadia Bay anymore. The two got out of the car and they were surrounded by nothing but an empty road and trees. 

“Is this your plan to kill me?” Nathan asks as the other boy leads him into the woods. Warren didn’t say anything in response. They walked for a good five minutes before the sound of small waves hit Nathan’s ears. He could see a clearing straight ahead. 

“I think we’re here!” Warren starts running straight to the clearing. He could see a little bit of light peeking through the thick trees. Nathan took no chance to let the shot in front of him escape and snapped a photo with his camera. He captured an image of Warren running into the light, surrounded by the darkness around the trees. Finally catching up to Warren, Nathan realizes they were at a small secluded cove where cliffs surrounded both sides of the beach. 

“Wow, where’d you find this place?” Nathan asked.

“I was doing research for the science fair. Just trying to get some ideas for something.”

“And what’s at this cove that’ll help you with your science fair?” Warren sits on the sand, removing his shoes and socks and Nathan follows his actions.

“You’ll see. The sun’s still out a little so we’ll wait until it’s completely dark.” 

“Why can’t you just tell me what it is?” Warren laughs, telling him that he doesn’t want to ruin the surprise. 

They both stare at the ocean and the small waves it creates. To Nathan, the sound was calming, like the sound of whales that help him go into slumber. At the corner of his eyes, he notices a bird’s nest that looks as if it was knocked over by something. He gets up and walks over to the nest. It’s ruined and the eggs are cracked, some even scattered onto the beach. Nathan grabs his camera and takes a photo. It could’ve been a strong wind that knocked it out of the trees but he felt bad for the mother bird who lost her eggs. 

He takes his seat next to Warren, looking at the photo he had just taken. The boy next to him leans over to see what was going on. 

“That’s so sad.” Warren says quietly as Nathan continued to stare at the photo, only muttering a small ‘Yeah.’ He sets his camera down and leans back with his hands at his sides. Closing his eyes, Nathan listens to the sound of the waves. He feels his body relaxing. 

“Warren.” He speaks out slowing, opening his eye, still laying them on the ocean. “What is it you want to do after Blackwell?” 

Warren takes a moment to think. “Obviously college. I know that’s not the route for everyone, but for me, I want to study computer science. Did you know at MIT, they’re currently developing laws for AI’s in the future?”

“Makes total sense. Try to get ahead of the game before all the AI turn against us.” 

“I’d love to help do the work to develop AI. They always fascinated me in movies.” 

“So you want to create your own Jarvis and Ultron? Well, I’ll know who to blame when we’re all enslaved by them.” Warren laughs. “I was never really into science. That shit’s way too hard and confusing for me to understand. I guess that’s why I gravitate towards art so much. Maybe I just really hate science.”

“Nate, don’t say that. Art and science go together. Why do you think Blackwell Academy is the school of art and science? You know, someone once said ‘The art challenges the technology and the technology inspires the art.’ Maybe that’s why we get along so well.”

“Didn’t that guy from Pixar who got accused of sexual harassment say that?”

“His actions might have been wrong but what he said about art and science isn’t.” Nathan looks into Warren’s eyes. He did have a point. His mind was always ignorant towards things that his father always disregarded but the boy in front of him was slowly changing how he views the world. 

Thirty minutes had gone by and the cove was surrounded by darkness. Warren gets up from the sand and begins to roll up his pants up to his knees. He tells Nathan to follow him with his camera ready. Rolling up his pants as well, Nathan trails behind the boy who walks into the water. A blue glow illuminates in the water. Warren’s eyes light up and tells Nathan to take a photo. 

“Bioluminescence is so beautiful, isn’t it?” Warren keeps walking around in the water, activating the blue glow around him. They radiate like fireflies. “These phytoplankton are more common in tropical areas so it’s rare to see it in the northwest but Oregon has a few beaches that have these microscopic creatures.” Nathan pulls his eyes away from his camera and sees Warren playing in the water with the glow. “We wouldn’t be able to see these little guys at the beach in Arcadia Bay. The lighthouse is too bright for them.” Nathan lifts his foot from the wet sand and sees the same glow.

“So what does bioluminescence have to do with your science fair project?” Warren shrugs.

“It’s just an idea out of many I have. I just want to research a little of each thing I have in mind before going with a solid idea.”

Nathan notices the stars acting as a backdrop for Warren. There was something majestic that Nathan felt about that. He takes his camera again and adjusts his settings. He takes his mind back to the one lesson from photography class about capturing stars with a camera. Warren brushes the water with both his hands. They almost look like skeletons from the glow. It was the perfect shot. Warren in a silhouette; accompanied by the backdrop of the stars and the glowing water in the foreground. It might have been the best photo he has taken yet. 

“Nate, get in the water. I think we have enough photos tonight.” Nathan sets his camera and jacket back down at the beach before joining Nathan in the water. He is amazed at the bioluminescence that was around him whenever he moved. The two were knee deep in the ocean, with the water wetting the tip of their pants. 

“You see the stars?” He points at the sky. “I know you’re really into that space shit.” Warren looks up, just noticing them. “The only constellation I know how to find is the Big Dipper.”

“Which is not actually a constellation but an asterism which is basically a prominent group of stars.”

“Don’t be such a smart ass, Warren.” Nathan says, continuing to look up. 

“My favorite one is Orion, The Hunter.” Warren points in the sky. Nathan tries to look around but they all look like the same dots to him. His face was full of confusion until Warren grabs his right hand and points it towards the giant balls of gases in the sky. “You see those three really bright stars in a straight line? That’s Orion’s belt.” He drags Nathan’s finger up. “And the two stars just north above it are the shoulder.” He brings the fingers down a little. “The two below it are the feet. And to the right of his body, you’ll find his bow.” Warren lets go of Nathan’s hand. “You see it?”

Nathan looks at Warren. “Yeah.” 

“Can you see this?” Nathan is confused until Warren slaps his face with the glowing water. 

“Why are you such a dick around water?” He yells out. 

“You up for round two, pretty boy?” He signals his hands to come at him. 

“You’re fucking on.” Nathan tackles Warren into the ocean. By the time they got out of the water, they were completely wet. “You’re lucky I left all my shit on the beach.” He said as they gathered their things, both freezing from the night’s breeze. They didn’t even put on their shoes as they walked through the woods back to the car, using their phones as flashlights. “I swear, it’s on you if I get sick.” 

Nathan unlocks the car and cranks the heat all the way up. He doesn’t even mind that his leather seats are getting soaked from the two of them. As they drive back to Blackwell Academy, he couldn’t help but think about his appointment with his therapist on Monday. He was going to dread it but he didn’t want to upset his father any more than he already has. Nathan didn’t want the weekend to end, especially not after tonight.


	4. They See Demon, I See Angel

Nathan wakes up with his throat feeling incredibly dry. He knocks over some of the pill bottles to take a huge gulp of the glass of water and then rests his hand on his forehead. They were awful dreams. Some were horrid flashbacks of being abused by his father. Others were of him being bullied in his freshman year. He hated how constantly they came to him almost every night. It was eight in the morning and Nathan wasn’t in the mood of going to school. He wouldn’t be able to focus on anything with his appointment haunting him in the background. 

Dr. Bill, a renowned radio host, and author who specializes in parenting. Nathan hated his guts as he did with a lot of people in his life. In his eyes, Dr. Bill only cared for his father’s money and not his actual health. It was why he stopped going until his father made him go to one this afternoon. 

He got dressed for the day and didn’t bother to take his medication. Nathan grabs his camera and heads out. If anything could distract him, it would be photography. While walking across campus, he spots Warren walking up the steps of Blackwell with Max. Nathan still found it weird how much he and Warren had in common and actually enjoyed his company. 

As he was about to reach the parking lot, he heard a familiar female voice call out his name. Turning around, Nathan spots Victoria approaching him. As much as he loves Victoria as a friend, he wasn’t in the mood for any social interaction. She only asked if he was ready for the math test they were going to have.

“No need to worry if I’m not gonna show up.” He responded and walked down the steps to the parking lot. 

“Wait, your skipping?” Not that it was anything surprising to her. 

“Yep.”

“Where are you even going to go?” He shrugged and got into his car. 

Nathan honestly had no idea where he wanted to go, just some place where he could be by himself. He drives with his right hand on the wheel while his left elbow rests against the door. 

Nathan parks his car at Two Whales, only so he could take photos around downtown. He sees a depressed fisherman leaning against the diner at a campaign table. Nathan recognizes the paper he’s holding. ‘Save Our Bay’ it reads. He sees his father constantly throwing them in the trash. After all, the fishing community in Arcadia Bay blames the Prescott’s for the man-made fish drought in the town. It wasn’t Nathan’s fault that his dad decided to be a dick to the ocean, but everyone blames him because he’s still a Prescott. 

The fisherman pulls his hat down with one hand, looking at the ground. Nathan thought it was a perfect shot to take. A depressed fisherman who yearns for a change in the town, but nothing is being done to help it. Someone who looks and feels helpless.

The man lifts his head up after hearing a few shutters of a camera. He spots Nathan on his knees by the car with his camera and angrily walks over to him. “I recognize you.” Nathan gets up and attempts to reach the handle of his car door. The man grabs the side of Nathan’s jacket and turns him around. “You’re a Prescott kid, aren’t you? Yeah, I’ve seen you around.” He says, still holding onto the jacket. "You like taking pictures like a stalker, huh?"

“Let go of me, bitch.” The fisherman laughs at him. 

“Rich kid can’t fight for his life?”

“You lay a finger on me, I’ll sue your ass.” He lets go of Nathan, looking at him with devilish eyes. 

“You and your family need to watch your backs.” The fisherman turns around and heads back to his campaign table by the diner. “Fucking Prescott's.” He muttered but Nathan clearly heard it.

No one needed to tell him twice that he was unwanted there and had no choice but find some other place to hang around. Driving through downtown, he sees the lighthouse on the top of the cliff. Thinking that no one would bother him there, he turns his car towards its direction. 

After parking his car at the base, he hikes up the hill with the camera in his hand. He kept taking photos of all sorts of things along the way such as fallen trees or dead animals. They all gave off an ominous vibe when looking at the previews on his camera. 

Reaching the top, Nathan sits on the bench and looks out at the small town below. A town where he grew up almost his entire life and he hated every inch of it. He couldn’t wait until college but even that worries him to an extent. His grades weren’t up to Stanford’s standard but he already knows that his father is prepared to bribe them with millions to let him in. Nathan’s mind couldn’t help but wander to going to an art college. Warren’s idea of New York wasn’t bad and it was far away from Arcadia Bay. But that might just be another pipe dream in his life. He wouldn’t know how to pay for it because he is sure as hell knows his father would never let him go. 

A small sound escapes Nathan’s phone. A reminder that his appointment was in an hour. 

He was thirty minutes late to his appointment in Portland, not that it mattered to Nathan. He opens the door to Dr. Bill’s office. Everything in it was sleek and modern. Giant glass windows covered one side of the wall while the coffee table was decorated with metallic abstract sculptures. The whole office felt like a museum rather than a place of comfort. Dr. Bill was sitting at his desk and looks up once he noticed Nathan’s presence.

“How have you been Nathan?” He asked as he got up, walking over to a chair across a leather couch. “It’s been quite a while.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Nathan went to sit on the couch which was like sitting on a rock. It looked nice for sure but it was damn uncomfortable. 

Dr. Bill puts on his glasses and grabs his tablet with its pen. He notices Nathan shifting uncomfortably on the couch, trying to find a better position. “Would you like to lay down?” Nathan shakes his head. “So why don’t we catch up? Tell me what’s been going on since we last saw each other.”

“Pfft. Everything’s been the same. Shitty town, shitty parents, shitty people.” 

“And what makes you feel like everything’s, in your words, ‘shitty’?” 

“Because everything just is.”

Dr. Bill sighs and takes off his glasses. He closes his eyes, resting his fingers on his temple. “Nathan, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on. Have you been taking your meds?” Nathan doesn’t even look at him and Dr. Bill leans forward in his chair. “Nathan, you know you can’t get better if you don’t take them. Your father wants you to get better.”

“My father just doesn’t want me to embarrass the family name.” Nathan spits out. “Like shit he actually cares about me.” 

“Nathan, you need to understand that-“ Nathan gets up from the couch, not allowing Dr. Bill to finish his sentence. 

“We’re fucking done here.” He walks out of the office, slamming the door. 

Nathan gets back in his car that was parked on the side of the street. He rests his head on the steering wheel and lets out a breath. He wasn’t in there for long but he felt exhausted. His phone makes a noise and he lifts his head to take a look. It was a text from his father telling him to come home tonight. Nathan now had another thing to dread today. He visits his home quite often but constantly tries to avoid his family a majority of the time. 

It was already dark by the time he got to the Prescott estate. It was the size of what was considered a mansion when it was built back in the early 1900s. The Prescott family has lived there for generations. 

Nathan opens the house doors and heads straight for the stairs to his room, hoping no one noticed that he came home. Turning on the lights, he was satisfied that everything was left just the way it was. His room wasn’t all that different from his dorm at Blackwell. The only difference was that it lacked the BDSM posters which he would be extremely judged for by his parents. Nathan had another large bookcase filled with DVDs and Blu-Rays that couldn’t fit in his dorm. He runs his fingers through his hair before laying on his bed. Draping an arm over his eyes, Nathan just needed a nap before facing his family at dinner. He already had an idea of what they wanted to talk to him about. 

His nap only lasted for a few seconds before his door was whipped open. Nathan wishes people in the home would learn how to knock before opening a door. Especially for his room. 

“I thought I heard someone come in.” It was his father’s stern voice. “Get up. It’s time for dinner.” He heard his father’s footsteps fade away in the halls. He also hated how no one would close the door either. 

It took him about fifteen minutes before he could get himself downstairs. At the bottom of the steps, he could see his parents in the dining room, having a quiet meal. Nathan lugs himself over to the dining room. His father was sitting at the head of the table while his mother was to his right. Nathan took a sit to his father’s left, closest to the windows. 

“Nathan, I told you fifteen minutes ago that dinner was ready.” His father said to him. “And what did I say about slouching? Keep your back straight.” Nathan didn’t care to listen and just slumps into the chair. It was always the same things that his dad was complaining about. It was getting to a point where it was annoying. “Nathan, did you hear me?”

“Sorry, Dad.” He said quietly. Nathan had his head down, poking his pasta with a fork. He wasn’t even hungry. 

“Nathan, honey, stop playing with your food.” His mother told him. “How was school today?”

“Fine.” He lied. 

His father, Sean Prescott, just kept staring at his son. “Dr. Bill told me about the appointment today.” 

“So?”

“You weren’t even there for five minutes.” 

“Because he fucking sucks!” Nathan said as he got up from his chair that has now fallen over. “He can’t fix me and none of you give enough of a shit about me to help!” He shouted at them. It only left Sean giving his son dagger eyes. “Do not speak to us in that tone, young man.” His father said through his gritted teeth. “Why do we always have to tell you the same things over and over again? You never listen.” 

Sean forcefully grabs Nathan’s arms and drags him to his personal office, slamming the door closed. “Do you know how much trouble you are causing me?!” Nathan looks away from his eyes. “Principle Wells called me today saying that you didn’t show up to school. Not only that, he recently reported to me the bad grades you’ve been getting recently and-“

“The fucking semester just started-“

“Do not talk back to me!” He slaps Nathan in the face. Nathan keeps his head sideways with a tear falling down his face. He slowly to turns his head to look back at his father. “Students have told him that you’ve been smuggling in drugs and alcohol in those stupid parties that I fund for you. Do you know how bad that would make me look if that got out to the public? The Pan Estates project would shut down.” 

“It’s always about the fucking company isn’t it?” Nathan said as he barely let it out. He forms his hand in a grip and socks Nathan in the face as he falls to the ground.

“Get out of my face before something worse happens.” Nathan is still on the floor with more tears streaming down his face. His face felt like hell. He plants both hands on the hardwood floor, struggling to get himself up. “I said get out!” His father kicks him on the side, making him fall back to the floor before leaving the office. 

Nathan places his hand on a nearby table to help himself get up. He looks in a mirror in the office. He had a black eye and he winces once his finger touches it. It wasn’t the first time his father gave him a shiner and it was certain it wasn’t going to be the last. 

He opens the office door and rushes to get out of the house. He couldn’t stand being there a second longer. Nathan had his hand over the area his father kicked him. He was sure it was going to leave a bruise. Nathan drove as fast as he could back to Blackwell Academy, continuing to have his hand over the injured area of his body. 

Nathan was hoping he wouldn’t run into anyone when he got back to campus. People rarely saw him when he tries to sneak into the dorms after getting hit by his father. That hope quickly faded away once he bumped into Trevor Yard, one of the skater kids, outside the dorms. He was with Dana Ward, a fellow Vortex Club member but was a kinder person than the rest of the club. 

Trevor laughs at him. “Did someone give you a shiner, Prescott? About damn time someone taught a snobby douche like you a lesson.” 

“What the fuck did you say?” Nathan grabs the collar of Trevor’s shirt, ready to punch him in the face. Dana screams out loud. 

“You’re out of your goddamn mind, Nathan!” Nathan looks over at Dana and then to his fist. He closes his eyes to try to calm himself down before Trevor pushes him away. 

“Let’s get away from this crazy bastard, Dana.” Trevor grabs her hand and they run away from him. Nathan just stared at them before walking into the dorm. 

Finally reaching his door, he heard someone in front of him say, “Oh my God.” Nathan looks up and sees Warren looking at him with his mouth opened. Just what he needed. Another person to see him in this state. Warren had just exited his own room and approaches him and Nathan tries his best to unlock his door. “Nathan, what happened?” 

“It’s none of your fucking business, Graham.” 

“Did someone hit you?”

Nathan turns around and shoves Warren to the ground. “Leave me the fuck alone!” He opens the door and slams it. Warren stays on the floor aghast before deciding to head back to his room. Nathan rests his head against the door. He closes his eyes and tears begin to fall down his face again. Nathan takes a look at his dresser and angrily knocks everything off of it. The books, photos, pills, and various papers hit the ground. He feels like the night couldn’t get any worse. 

The first thing he did was rummage through his mini-fridge, grabbing two ice packs. One for his black eye and the other for the side he was kicked at. Laying on his bed, he stares at his projector that hangs from the ceiling. He was thinking that it was probably a good idea if he took his pills today. Slowly getting up, he takes one of the pills and flushes it down his throat with water.

Nathan still felt like shit and everything was still hurting. The pill wasn’t doing its job quick enough. He strolls over to the side of the black leather couch, a couch that was most certainly more comfortable than Dr. Bill’s, and grabs a bottle of champagne. Popping it open, he doesn’t even bother to get a glass and drinks it straight from the bottle.

A couple of hours had gone by and the bottle was empty but his lungs felt like they were suffocating. Nathan opens his room door and finds Warren leaving his room as well. Seeing the boy was the last thing he wanted to have happen tonight. But it was already too late as Warren approached him. He felt like hiding back in his room but his body wouldn’t allow him to move. 

“Hey, are you feeling alright?” Nathan notices Warren staring at his black eye and looks away, embarrassed. 

“Fine. I just need some air.” He moves past Warren, attempting to head to the roof but the boy didn’t seem to want to leave him alone.

“Nate, if there’s anything you want to talk about, I’m here for you.”

“I know.” Nathan says quietly as he pushes through the doors that lead to the stairwell. He thought it was lucky enough he took his meds or he would’ve given the boy a much different response. He feels bad for Warren. Someone actually gave a shit about him but he thought it was a shame that he was mentally insane. Nathan feels like he doesn’t deserve someone like Warren in his life. Especially not after tonight. 

Warren continues to follow him to the top of the stairwell. Nathan decided to give up on stopping Warren after knowing how persistent the boy could be. He takes out a paperclip from his jacket and tries to pick the lock of the door. As soon as it was opened, the chill of the night hit them both. 

Nathan walks over to the edge of the roof. He rests his arms on the ledge and looks down at the campus. The other boy comes to stand next to him. “I’m fucked up in the head,” Nathan spoke out. “My mind is so unstable and therapy isn’t helping. Sometimes I think that I’ll never be cured.” He’s silent for a moment. “My stupid ass father only cares about the family name.”

“Does everything have to be about the Prescott name?” Warren turns to him but Nathan keeps his eyes on the ground below. “I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Warren leans in closer. “Outside of Arcadia Bay, no one knows who the Prescott’s are, nor do they give a shit.”

Nathan lifts his head up and looks at the boy. “You think I don’t know that?” 

Warren could tell he needed some lifting up. “You know what makes me feel better sometimes? Yelling. It almost feels great just venting out my frustration once in a while. Like this.” Warren puts his hands to the side of his mouth to project his voice. “Fuck Ms. Grant for giving me an A- on my lab today!” 

Nathan bursts out laughing. “Dude, you got an A. What’s there to complain about?”

“Hey, I worked really hard on my research and experiment. It should’ve been an A+” Nathan continued laughing at him. “Okay, it’s not that funny. Why don’t you try?” 

Nathan stands on top of the ledge and screams out. “Fuck Prescott Industries!” 

Warren chuckles. “Yeah, like that!” He clears his voice, ready to shout again. “Fuck that A-!”

“Fuck Sean Prescott!” Nathan yelled.

“Shut the fuck up!” A female voiced shouted from an opened window below. The two laughed together. 

“Nathan, are you drunk?” 

Nathan shakes his head but Warren wasn’t convinced. “Maybe just a tiny bit.”

Warren signals his hands to tell Nathan to get off the ledge. “C’mon, get down. I don’t want you to accidentally fall to your death.” Nathan takes his hand for support and jumps down. “Now what do we do?”

“You want to continue our marathon?”

“I’m down for that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I normally update on Mondays but I got my wisdom teeth taken out so I was in too much pain to finish the chapter that day haha.  
> I hope you all enjoyed this week's chapter.  
> Updates are back to Mondays!


	5. Rhythm to New Heights

Nathan sits on the couch in Victoria’s dorm room. “So tell me again how you got this black eye?” Victoria asks as she applies makeup to his face to cover up the shiner.

“A fisherman by the diner was upset that my family took away his job and socked me in the face for it.” He tells her.

“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. What a total loser like hello, just get another job.” Nathan always appreciated Victoria’s support for him. She snaps the lid of the make-up product and sets it on the table. “All done!” She pulls out a mirror and Nathan touches his face.

He’s amazed at how well she was able to make his face look normal again. Nathan picks up his backpack and slings it over one of his shoulders. Victoria gives him a quick hug before he leaves and gets ready for school herself.

As soon as Nathan enters the main entrance of the school, he is stopped by a stern voice that calls him from behind. He knew the voice belonged to Principal Wells. It was likely that the man wanted to talk to him about the parties after what his father found out from the previous night. 

Nathan slowly turns around and pops out a fake smile. “Principal Wells. How do you do this fine morning?” Not buying the act, Wells brings Nathan into his office. 

Nathan sits in the chair with his arms crossed while Wells looks out his windows, watching the students coming to school. “I’m assuming you know why I hauled you into my office today.”

“Is it because you couldn’t get enough of my charms?” Wells turns to him, looking unamused. He goes to sit in his large leather chair, placing his folded hands on the desk. 

“Various students have reported to me that you’ve been smuggling drugs and alcohol on the campus.” _Snitches._ Nathan thinks to himself. “Do you have anything to say about that?”

“Only that it’s all false. People are just making up stupid rumors because they’re jealous of my family’s wealth.” 

Principle Wells opens his desk and takes out a file. He takes out its content and throws them flat on the desk. They were photos of him and the rest of the Vortex Club getting wasted at the parties they threw at the school. “Don’t think you can use your family’s name to get out of this one. I’ve already informed your father about this and he made it clear how he was not pleased to see this.”

Nathan blames Wells for the beating he got from his father last night. It was all about the company and not letting the development of Pan Estates go to hell. 

“How did you get these?” 

“It doesn’t matter how. I prioritize the safety and well being of my students above all else.” _Lies._ Nathan thought. He only cared about his reputation and pleasing Sean Prescott who’s not amused with Nathan’s behavior lately. “I have discussed things with your father and we believe it’s best that Vortex Club parties will no longer be allowed to be held on school property unless there is supervision. 

What’s the point of a party without drugs and alcohol? He’d just have to find some other place to host the parties because he’s sure as hell doesn’t want supervision. 

“Whatthefuckever.” Nathan gets up and leaves without Wells dismissing him. 

The only class Nathan thought was worth attending today was his photography class before skipping the rest of the day in his dorm. Nathan easily gets upset over the smallest of things and snorting the white powder on his desk was the best way of dealing with today’s issue. 

Nathan leans back in his chair, closing his eyes. He felt euphoria. It reminded him of why he was addicted to these sorts of things and why it attracted him. He loves the void it temporarily fills but sometimes it couldn’t give him that satisfaction - as if something were missing.

~~~

Warren slams his head on the desk multiple times. He was having trouble coming up with an idea for the science fair. He thought the bioluminescence stuff was neat but had no idea what to do with it. He had to turn in a proposal by the end of next week and he was unsure if he was going to make that deadline. He thought to himself that he could be suffering from burnout with all the stress school has been giving him lately. His mind just needed a little break before running full steam again.

Warren powers on his laptop and opens up Overwatch once everything loaded. Warren told himself he would only play for a few matches and then he’ll go right back to planning his science fair project. However, that didn’t end up being the case. The boy had already clocked a few hours on the game and had no plans of stopping anytime soon. 

As Warren’s entire attention was on the game, he got startled when he felt a hand resting on his shoulder. Jumping from the interaction, he turns to see it was Max. “Oops, I made you fall off the map.” She chuckles. Warren leaves the game and puts down his headset. 

“What’s up, Mad Max?” 

She goes to sit on the helm of Warren’s bed. “Sorry if you cared that I let myself in. I just wanted to see the progress of your project. By the looks of it, it seems like you got a lot done.” Warren attempts to defend himself but Max had to explain that she was only joking. “Don’t stress yourself over it. You still have plenty of time. Your presentation in chem class was awesome, you deserve a little break.” 

It warms Warren’s heart to have someone like Max care about him, but he never had the courage to ask her out. She just didn’t seem interested or just saw them as friends. Warren didn’t want to ruin what they have by making things awkward.

“Do you want to stay and maybe we could play some D&D?” Warren suggested.

“Sorry, Warren. I’d love to but I only came to stop by for a short visit. Chloe invited me to hang out with her and Rachel somewhere.” 

Warren pretends what she said didn’t hurt him in the slightest. “It’s all good, Max.” She gets up to hug him. 

“Promise me you’ll relax a little more tonight? It’s okay to feel lazy from time to time.” Warren promises her. As soon as she leaves the room, Warren grabs his phone to message Nathan. He wanted to know if he was up for their usual movie nights tonight. It didn’t even take more than a minute for Nathan to respond with a ‘Sure.’ 

Warren arrived at Nathan’s door an hour later, carrying a large plate of nachos. It was starting to become a tradition for them to alternate on who brings the movie snacks. Warren notices how Nathan's black eye is covered up by make-up but doesn't say anything about it. Throughout the whole film, Warren could stop thinking about the project. It was bugging him so much, he couldn’t even enjoy the movie night. He only hoped the boy next to him wouldn't notice he wasn’t really paying attention. Nathan was too busy laughing at the one-liners that the film had to offer.

“I can’t believe a giant talking tree who can only say three words got me emotional.” Nathan said as the credits begin to roll.

“Nathan emotional? That’s unheard of.” That got Warren a playful punch in the arm. Even though it was a harmless act, Nathan hit him pretty hard. Warren rubs his arm where he felt a tiny sting. He plops down the empty nacho plate on the floor before facing Warren on the other side of the bed.

“Alright, tell me what’s up.” Warren didn’t understand what he meant. “You seemed distracted the whole entire time. What’s bugging that nerdy brain of yours in there?” Nathan liked how their friendship got to a point where they could begin to tell each other things. 

Warren takes a moment to think before he replies. “I guess the science fair proposal has been giving me a little stress. I have no idea what to do.” Warren leans his head against the bed frame and looks up at the ceiling. “I can’t think of anything to do with the bioluminescence stuff and the rest of my ideas are crap. I’ve been hearing what some people in my class are going to do and they have way better ideas than I do.” 

“Well have you thought of doing something with AI?” Warren whips his head to the direction of Nathan and asks him to repeat. “You said you were interested in researching AI in college. I just assumed that would be something good to do for your project.”

 _Why didn’t I think of that?_ Warren thought to himself. He felt so stupid. It’s as if he were oblivious to the most obvious things sometimes. Warren was just baffled that Nathan was able to come up with that idea so quickly. It was probably because of all the Marvel movies they were watching together. 

Then it hit him. “Like, like a machine learning algorithm!” Warren jumps off the bed and begins to pace around the room. He might not be able to create something like Jarvis or Ultron, yet, but he believes a machine learning algorithm could be doable. “Maybe I could create an AI that learns about things by taking photographs of it!” Warren looks at Nathan’s desk. On top, there was a collection of what he assumes are expensive cameras. “Can I borrow one of those?” Warren asks as he points to them. 

Nathan raises an eyebrow up. “For your AI thing?” Warren vigorously nods his head, leaving Nathan to ponder. “Fine, but you owe me a favor. Two actually, for that time you dragged me to the beach.” Warren took the deal and shook his hand. “You break it, I’ll make sure to put your head on a stake.” He threatens him.

Warren then rushes out of the room to his own. He has a variety of thoughts he could not allow to escape his mind and had to write them all out immediately. He had to thank Nathan later for getting his mind out of a block.

~~~

Warren’s eyes twitch as he stares at his laptop screen. The time read 4:15 am and the boy was almost shaking, running on 20 minutes of sleep for the past two days. Energy drinks and coffee cups litter the dorm floor. His desk and bed were crowded with many books on computer programming he borrowed from the library. Each one of them filled with sticky notes and tabs. It’s early October and Warren has been vigorously at work on his science fair that isn’t until early spring. The boy found it increasingly difficult to juggle school work, his social life, and the science fair project. All weekend, Warren shut himself in his room to get away from all the distractions.

The codes on the screen reflect onto his eyes that want to shut close so badly. Developing code for an AI was much more difficult than Warren had realized. He was lucky enough to have a father in the computer science field or he would’ve felt hopeless. Without a thought, Warren attempts to FaceTime his father but there was no answer on the other end. Looking at the time, he realizes that his father is most likely deep in his sleep. 

_I’ll just type a few more lines of code, then I’ll rest up._ Warren lifts a finger up but his face falls flat on the keyboard. His body gives in without him even knowing. 

“Wake up.” Warren faintly hears. “Dude, wake the fuck up.” He feels ice sliding down the back of his shirt and jumps out of his chair. He faces the person guilty of the prank, Nathan. He stands there laughing at the boy. “Dude, you have your keyboard imprinted on your face.” Nathan laughs even harder. 

Warren goes to see his reflection on his laptop’s screen. The imprint of the keyboard covered his whole right cheek. His hair was a total mess, messier than usual, and he had giant dark circles under his eyes. He didn’t even know how long he had been asleep for because according to outside, it was either sunset or sunrise.

“What the hell, man.” Warren shoves Nathan lightly at the shoulder. Within a month, the two were already quite comfortable with each other. They had interests in common, it was almost hard to wonder why they didn’t become friends sooner. 

“That’s payback for all the water shit you pulled on me.” 

Warren grabs the cold leftover cup of coffee from his desk and attempts to take a slip of it only for Nathan to slap the cup out of his hand, spilling on the carpet. “Asshole,” Warren muttered.

“I think it’s clear that you’ve had enough of that.”

Warren puts his own hand on his head. He has a slight headache. “How long have I been asleep for?” Nathan shrugs. 

“Pretty sure you missed a whole day of school today.” Nathan says only for Warren to respond with a scream and he tries to search for something in his room. “Dude, it smells in here. How many energy drinks and cups of coffee have you had?” he asks, noticing how messy the room is.

“Apparently not enough if I fell asleep.” Warren becomes physically upset. “Where is my goddamn phone? Nate, do you know what time it is?” 

“It’s almost 6PM.” 

_Shit._ Warren thinks to himself. He quickly rushes to put on a pair of shoes and Nathan asks him what he was in a rush for. “I’m supposed to pick up my new car today and they close at 6:30. I need to catch the bus to get to the shop before they close.” He tells him to relax and voluntarily offers to take him to the shop himself. 

In the car ride, Nathan couldn’t help but notice that Warren’s legs kept shaking. “Warren, how long were you awake for?” Warren tells him he didn’t sleep for two days straight and Nathan almost stops the car. “That’s wild, Warren.” 

Nathan feels that he could relate to Warren in that kind of way, even if their reasonings are different. Some nights are hard for Nathan to sleep, mainly due to him always thinking about his mental illness. He stays up late with all the worries that go through his mind. Warren loses sleep because he can’t stop working and doesn’t know when to take a break. 

The two were able to get to the shop 15 minutes before closing. Warren rushes out of Nathan’s car and rushes inside to see the clerk. Nathan decides to stay in the car to wait for him. Looking around, he notices that most of the cars here are old, used ones. He just wonders which one was going to be Warren’s. Nathan didn’t have to wait long in the car. He sees Warren walking out of the shop, holding the key in the air. Warren signals him to come out. The car was parked right in front of the shop. It was a blue car that looks like it was from the 90s. He was sure it had seen better days, especially with tape hold up one of the back windows.

“You work part-time downtown to buy this piece of crap? I thought you said it was new.”

“It is new to me!” Warren brushes his palm against the hood of the car. He was proud that he was able to earn his own money to buy something he wanted. Nathan sees the smile on Warren’s face when he looks at it. 

“Just don’t expect me to ride in it. I’m not asking for a death wish.” 

“Don’t be such a buzzkill, Nate. I can’t wait to get this thing on campus and show Max. She’s going to be so amazed.” Warren opens the car door and steps inside. He puts his hands on the steering wheel and looks through the windshield. “I love this.” He tells Nathan.

“Race you back to campus?” 

“I’ve been looking for a rematch ever since you tackled me into the ocean.” Warren slams the door close and ignites the engine before storming off.

“Dickhead!” Nathan shouts as Warren’s car is already on the road and he rushes back to his own car.

By the time he got back to Blackwell, Warren was already leaning against the hood of his car. He parks his car a space away from Warren’s and leans against the side of his own.

“Damn, Prescott. Didn’t realize you drive like an old lady.” 

“Didn’t realize I was racing with a cheater.” Warren laughs. 

The past couple of weeks have been actually normal for Nathan. He and Warren had been hanging out with each other more often and his father and Principal Wells haven’t gotten on his nerves since the last encounter. He only hoped that it could stay this way for a while.

“Hey, guys!” A voice shouts from a distance. It was Rachel who was carrying a clipboard in one of her arms. “New ride, Warren? I’m loving it.”

“See, Nathan? It’s not a piece of junk.” He tells Nathan who only rolls his eyes. “How’s it going, Rachel?”

“Great, actually.” She smiles at him. “So I know Halloween isn’t until the end of the month but I’m planning to host a Halloween party at the junkyard,” Warren tells her how sweet it sounds. “Not only that but there’s going to be a VIP section and I wanted to invite you guys and put you on the list. I know you’re not the biggest party person, Warren, but Max is going to be there.” Rachel gives Warren a wink.

Nathan raises his eyebrows and begins to connect the dots in his brain. He’s starting to realize that maybe the reason Warren hangs out with Max so much is that he likes her. He feels a little hurt inside and doesn’t know why. 

“VIP section? I’ve never been on one of those lists before. Sign me up!” Rachel laughs and writes his name down on the clipboard. She then turns to Nathan to get his answers.

“Why the hell not.” At least he’s able to have his addictive substances at the party. Rachel expresses her excitement and leaves the two alone before she approaches another student. Warren tells Nathan that he has to head back to the dorm to continue working on his science fair project but Nathan stops him. “You need really need to chill, Warren. Take the night off, for real. You’ve already worked enough on it over the weekend.”

Apparently, Warren needs to constantly be told when to take breaks from work. That was his problem, not knowing when it’s okay to feel burnt out and just relax. He always had the habit since middle school and that habit allowed him to get a full scholarship to Blackwell. It was just something that was hard for him to break.

When he arrives back in his dorm room, the realization finally hit Warren when the smell of the room got to his nose. He has to clean everything up at some point. Warren steps over the empty pizza box to get to his desk and wakes his laptop up. The program he used to code was full of unreadable text. They were most likely typed by his own face resting on the keys. He closes it and goes to lay on his bed. Nathan and Max were right, he really does need to learn how to take a break.

His mind wanders to the Halloween party Rachel invited him to. If he made a cool enough costume, there could be a chance to impress Max. Maybe then she’ll show some hint that she’s into him. Warren’s just not the type to be the first person to break the ice in these types of situations. 

Warren opens his nightstand drawer, looking for a pen and a sketchpad to come up with concept designs. He believes Max would be amazed if he showed up wearing an Iron Man suit. A functional one is far out of reach, but he saw Tony Stark as an inspiration for his science fair, thanks to Nathan. 

Warren took the next few nights off of his science fair to do something a little more fun. Building his Halloween costume. A thunderstorm was going on when he snuck into the fabrication lab on the top floor of Blackwell tonight to work on creating the materials and put the costume together. He even went through a few trial and errors to get the arc reactor light to work. To Warren, he saw building the Iron Man suit as something recreational. 

He always came to the fabrication lab when there was a teacher to supervise all the dangerous stations but the lab didn’t stay open late enough for Warren. The boy would be in deep hell if he got caught in the fabrication lab alone, past school hours with no supervision. That freaked him out because he heard the door behind him open. It especially startled him when the sound of thunder came with it. The boy quickly tries to find a hiding place under a workbench. 

“Warren?” He hears Nathan’s voice and pops his head out.

“Nathan?” Warren responds and gets out from under the table. “What are doing at school at this hour?” 

“Printing photos for class tomorrow in the printing lab.” Nathan holds up the large, high quality printed photography. He lays them out on the table and Warren goes to look at them. He always loved looking at the photos Nathan took.

“Wow, this one is beautiful.” Warren holds up one of the large photos. It was a black and white image at the beach he took him to. It showed a trail of Nathan’s footprints in the wet sand with the glow of the phytoplankton. It was tilted and was featured mainly in the bottom left part of the photo. The rest showed the beach and its small waves. It almost gives off a creepy vibe like it’s from a mystery show or a detective trying to solve a murder case. “Can I keep this one? I’ll buy it off of you.” 

Nathan looks up at Warren in shock but then his face softens. It was satisfying to Nathan whenever people admired his work. “You don’t need to pay me, I’ll give it to you for free after my class.” He stacks his photos together. “Now it’s my turn. Why are you here in the fabrication lab? Alone I might add.” 

“I know, I know. I’ll get in some deep shit with Wells if I get caught but I’m just excited to build it.” Warren leads him to one of the tables. “I finished 3D printing this yesterday and I got the lights to work on it.” It was one of Tony Stark’s repulsor gloves from his Iron Man suit. 

“Holy shit, this is cool.” Nathan puts the glove on himself. “I would say you’re quite the artist too, Warren.” Warren finds himself feeling warm inside at the compliment. 

“I still have a lot of the suit to cover but I like what I have now.” Warren smiles at the repulsor glove. The lights begin to flicker a few times before the power shuts off. “Goddammit.” Warren uses the flashlight from his phone and rushes over to one of the 3D printers. “I was working on printing the part that covers my ass.” He looks through the glass and sees that the piece was halfway done. “Guess I’ll have to come back tomorrow morning.” 

Warren goes back to the workbench and belongings to pack his things. “By the way, Nate, have you thought about what you’re going to be dressed up as for the party?”

Nathan shakes his head. “I haven’t thought about it.” Nathan walks over to one of the cabinets to get out a large plastic bag to protect his prints from the rain. “Maybe I’ll just have to surprise you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's this week's chapter!  
> Next chapter is the Halloween party which I'm pretty excited to share with you guys.  
> Side note: I don't know if any of you have noticed but the fic now has a set number of chapters.  
> The whole thing's been outline and there's a lot I'm excited to write about.  
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Perfect Places

Chloe slams her car door shut before approaching Rachel. The back of her truck was littered with pumpkins with a wide range of shapes and sizes. Tonight was the night of the Halloween Party at the American Rust junkyard. Max, Warren, and Nathan are there at the request to help set everything up. 

“Holy shit,” Warren says, walking up to Chloe’s old-looking pickup truck. “How much did you pay for all these pumpkins?” 

“Who said I bought them, dude.” She gives him a wink. Warren figures that Chloe snuck on a farm last night to steal them all without getting caught. “Where do you want these, Rachel?”

“You decide. Pumpkin smashing was your idea, remember?” 

Warren hops on the back of the truck and hands a pumpkin to Chloe. She couldn’t hide the excitement from her face. Breaking things is one of her favorite pastimes after all. Rachel was going around the junkyard with a clipboard, making sure everything was all in place before tonight. She had the shed and the boat area blocked off for the VIP section with the former being the VVIP area. There’s no way Rachel would allow other people aside from Chloe and Max in that small structure. It was practically their base of operations whenever they needed to chill.

Max is busy rolling old, metal trash cans to specific areas where Rachel wants them to be. She thought it was a neat idea to have trash can fires around the junkyard. 

Nathan’s red truck pulls into the junkyard and parks near Chloe’s truck. His cargo bed is full of speakers and lights from previous Vortex Club parties. He didn’t mind lending them to Rachel for a night. As he gets out of the car, Chloe gives him a look. She wasn’t keen on having Nathan help out but Rachel insisted that he did since he had things that they could never obtain. Legally at least. 

“Where do you want these?” He asks Chloe as he gets out of the truck. 

“Over by the generators, dickwad.” She was able to sneak two generators that her stepfather owns. Sure the generators were going to be loud, but the music was going to be louder. “I can’t believe you and Warren are friends. What does he even see in a dipshit like you?” 

“The question is mutual for you and Rachel.” 

Chloe raises both of her hands in the air. “Touché, Prescott.” 

A few hours pass before the whole party is set for tonight and Rachel gathers everyone in a circle. 

“First off, I want to thank each and every one of you for helping me out. It would’ve taken me ages by myself so, I got you all a little something.” She heads to the passenger side of Chloe’s truck, looking for something. When Rachel returns, Warren’s eyes light up. She was holding four mini Halloween baskets filled with all sorts of candy. “These are for you guys.”

“Holy crap.” Warren, with a huge smile on his face, stares at the basket that Rachel hands him. He is already unwrapping one of the sugary pieces. 

“You’re such a child,” Nathan says to him.

“Well if you don’t want yours, I’ll take the-“ Nathan pulls his own basket away from Warren’s hand. 

“I never said I didn’t want mine.” 

Max laughs at the two, fighting over Nathan’s pumpkin basket. “Rachel,” she begins. “You really didn’t have to do this.”

“Max, stop. It’s the least I could do after what you all did for me.” Rachel told her.

“Yeah, Max,” said Warren. The girls turn to see Nathan with one hand on Warren’s head, the other with the basket, away from him. Warren seems to be struggling to get the basket out of his hand. “Rachel wanted to do this. So you really shouldn’t question it. In fact, she should do it more often!” 

Warren falls to the ground when Nathan lets go of him. “Now your basket is mine.” Nathan picks up Warren’s basket of candy from the ground. 

“Rachel!” She turns around at the call of her name. Rachel looks around the junkyard but cannot spot anyone. She was sure it was her name that was called from a distance. The sound of it seemed to be coming from a man. Not able to find the owner of the voice, she turns her attention back to the group. Before she could continue speaking, Frank turns her around. “Rachel, I need to talk to you. Right now.”

“Leave me alone, Frank. I already told you that I don’t want to talk about it again.” Rachel looks back at everyone, trying her best to ignore the man who stands behind her. 

Frank takes a step in front of her. “Please. This will be the last time I bring it up. I promise.”

Rachel only stares at him before her eyes linger to everyone else. It was obvious things have gotten awkward. Not wanting to make a scene, she pulls Frank to a distance where no one could hear them. Nathan wonders how Frank even knows Rachel. Does she do drugs as well and he’s her dealer? Maybe was it something more than just that? Either way, Frank didn’t seem like the kind of person Rachel would hang around with but then again, she’s friends with Chloe.

The four of them stand there looking at each other, unsure of what to do. Even though Rachel and Frank were far from the group, they could hear faint sounds of yelling between the two. They all look in their direction. 

“Uh, should we do something?” Warren asks, breaking the silence.

“I’m gonna check up on them.” Chloe walks towards the two. “You can never trust a low-life like him.” 

Max goes after her. “Chloe, wait. I really think she wants to be alone.” 

By the time Chloe and Max reach her, Frank storms off in the opposite direction. “What the fuck’s his problem?” Chloe asks Rachel. 

She shakes her head, watching Frank walk away from him, then turns to Chloe. “It’s nothing. It was only a minor thing, and we shouldn’t let it ruin our mood before tonight.” The three of them walk back to Nathan and Warren. “I’m so sorry about that. I just want to thank you guys one last time. I can’t wait to see what you all dressed up as.”  
They all begin to part away from each other. Nathan eyes Frank walking away. Since the party was tonight, he needed a refill on his supplies. “I’ll see you back on campus,” he tells Warren before going after Frank. “Frank, hold up.” 

Frank turns around to see Nathan following him. “Leave me alone, Rott. I’m not in the mood.” 

“I just want to buy some shit from you.” 

“No. No way. I’m so fucking tired of you children.” He continues on, ignoring the boy.

“I’ll pay triple.” 

Frank stops his tracks. He turns to look at the boy with a raised eyebrow. “My RV’s nearby,” he tells Nathan.

~~~

Back at the Blackwell dorms, Nathan is in Victoria’s room, sitting on her couch.

“Nathan, I told you to stay still,” Victoria tells him. She’s putting makeup on his face to make him look more like a devil There’s a mix of red, black and white colors smeared on his face. He’s dressed in all red, with devil horns on his head and a tail hanging from the back of his pants.

“The powder you keep putting on makes me want to sneeze.” Victoria powders his face one last time, leaving Nathan to sneeze. 

“All done.” She begins to put all the products back in her makeup bag. Victoria stands up from the couch and turns her back to Nathan. “Can you zip up the back of my costume?” She’s dressed up as Tinkerbell, in a sparkly, green dress and wings.

“Of course.” He tells her as he zips it up. Just as he is done, he gets a text from Warren who needs help getting into costume. “I gotta help Warren with his costume. Meet us in front of the dorms?”

“It’s so weird you two are friends. He’s not even a Vortex Club member.” He ignores the comments and heads to Warren’s room.

Nathan opens the door to the boy’s room. He finds Warren struggling to put on some of the pieces of his costume. 

“Nate!” Warren says when he sees him. He looks at Nathan from head to toe, unimpressed with his costume. “I’m quite disappointed in you. I thought you said you’d surprise me with your costume.”

Nathan walks in and closes the door. “I have makeup on my face so give me some credit.”

Warren still struggles to put several pieces of his 3D-printed costume on. He looks at Nathan with puppy eyes. “Please help,” he begs.

Nathan rolls his eyes. “Stop giving me those eyes. It’s not cute,” he lies. Nathan walks over to Warren to help assemble the suit. It took a good half hour to put it all on before meeting up with Victoria again. 

“It’s about fucking time you guys finished up. I’ve just been standing here looking like a fool.” Victoria says then turns to Warren. “Is that the Mark IV suit?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Warren looks at her confused. 

Nathan leans close to Warren. “She’s a closeted geek.” 

Victoria’s ears become red. “Let’s just go to this fucking lame party already.” 

As they walk to the parking lot, Nathan and Warren argue over which car to take and it was obvious that neither Nathan nor Victoria want to ride in Warren’s.

“I don’t get why we couldn’t take my car,” Warren complains as he sits in the passenger seat of Nathan’s truck. He’s holding his 3D printed Iron Mask in his hands.

Victoria is in the back, using her phone. “‘Cause I’m not ready to die,” she says.

“That’s right. Victoria isn’t ready to enter hell yet.” Nathan jokes, receiving a slap on the back of his head by Victoria. 

As they arrive closer to their destination, they can see the lights of the party from a distance. There were cars all around the entrance of the junkyard. It was almost a slap in the face to Victoria to how popular Rachel Amber is. She’s always jealous of how much people admire Rachel, which increases her own insecurities. 

The trio gets out of the truck and is immediately greeted with loud, Halloween music. They couldn’t see the entrance from where they parked but they could still see the lights in the sky. It was almost like they were arriving at a carnival. 

The entrance was crowded with people. Most of them, neither one of the three even recognized as they probably didn’t go to Blackwell Academy. Old, metal trash cans had fire lit inside with Halloween decors on them. Fake spider-webs populated various junk around the area. Some parts of the ground had fog thanks to the fog machine Nathan also brought from previous Vortex Club parties. 

As they make their way through the junkyard, they could hear the sound of a loud crack which startled Victoria. It was just people playing smashing pumpkins like they were playing baseball since Chloe thought would be a great idea to bash them. 

Arriving at the VIP section, they’re greeted by Chloe at the entrance who is dressed like a pirate. Warren takes off his mask. “Holy shit, Warren?” she asks. “That’s fucking rad.” She gives him a high-five. “Come right in, dude.” She moves out of the way and Nathan trails behind Warren. “Douche.” She acknowledges the rich boy. 

“Dyke.” He responds back. 

“Fuck you, Prescott. I see you’ve dressed up as yourself.” Nathan gives her the middle finger without even looking at her as he goes into the VIP section. 

Victoria approaches Chloe. “Hey, Kari!” Chloe doesn’t even bother to correct her. “You already know my name so I’ll just walk right in.”

Chloe blocks her path. “You’re not on the list, Chase.” 

“Of course, I am. I’m one of the leaders of the Vortex Club.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but this isn’t a Vortex Club party. Now fuck off before I have someone escort you out. I’m saying it nicely.”

“Sweetie, you didn’t even check the list.” Victoria points to the clipboard that Chloe has resting on her hips.

“Honey,” Chloe says, emphasizing it. “I don’t need to. I helped make the list.” 

“How is Nathan and Warren on this list but not me?” Victoria snatches the clipboard from her. She looks at the list herself before shoving the clipboard back to Chloe. “Whatever. Most of the people on here are lame anyway.” She turns to walk away. 

Rachel walks up to Chloe’s side with two drinks in her hand. She’s dressed up as Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with a little basket and stuffed animal in her arm. Rachel hands one drink to Chloe. “That was surprisingly easy,” Chloe says to her. “Thought she’d put up more of a fight.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Rachel turns to look at Chloe. “C’mon, let’s have some fun inside.” She leads her into the VIP section.

As they walk it, Chloe slams the clipboard into Justin’s stomach. “Hey, skater dude, you get to play bouncer now.”

Justin holds the clipboard and looks back at Chloe. “Sweet.” He says melodically and goes to guard the entrance. 

Nathan and Warren cross the plank to get on the broken-down boat. The durability of it was questionable but that didn’t bother either of them. They take their seats next to each other on camping chairs. Nathan offers Warren a beer from one of the coolers but he shakes his head as he sets his mask aside.

“You sure?” Nathan asks.

Warren watches him open the bottle and takes a sip of it. He doesn’t attend parties very often, if ever. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try a little bit of it. “You know what? Pass me one.” 

Nathan takes another bottle out of the cooler and opens it for him. Warren mutters a ‘Thanks.’ He stares at the golden color liquid inside and brings it close to his nose, taking a sniff of it as Nathan watches. Warren brings the bottle to his mouth and tilts his head back. 

“Wow, that’s disgusting.” Nathan laughs at him.

“You’ll get used to it.” They clink their drinks.

Warren looks behind him to see the rest of the party scene. There are people all over the junkyard, dancing and having a good time.

He turns his attention back to Nathan. “Do you ever miss trick-or-treating? I mean the only way for us to celebrate Halloween from now on is a party or in the future, taking our kids out to trick-or-treat.”

Nathan leans back in his chair, taking a moment to think. “Maybe just a little. When I was a lot younger, my sister, Kristine, would always dress me up as Disney characters. She was really obsessed with Disney.” He pulls out his phone and shows Warren an old, childhood picture. “This is me as Peter Pan.” He swipes to the next photo. “And this is when she put me in a Winnie the Pooh costume.”

Warren takes the phone from his hand. “Baby Nathan is the most adorable thing I have ever seen.” He texts the photo to himself. 

“Hey!” Nathan snatches it back from him. 

“Now I get to use this as blackmail.”

“Dick.” Nathan takes another sip of his beer. “When I was finally old enough to decide for myself, I dressed up as in the goriest costume I find. Scared the shit out of my sister.” Warren laughs. “Now, it’s only fair that I get to see baby Warren.” 

Warren shrugs his shoulders. “Sorry, Prescott. Don’t have any on me. You’ll probably never see any of them. But I will tell you that I always went as a character from some kind of science fiction movie or from whatever show I was into at the time. I still even have my Darth Vader suit from when I was in kindergarten.”

“I feel like I should’ve known all of that already.” The two of them laugh together. They then hear the sound of a photograph being taken and turn their attention to its origin. 

Max lowers the vintage camera from her face. She's wearing a pirate costume, similar to that of Chloe’s. “I think this a photo that deserves to be framed.” She takes a seat next to Warren. Max takes the Polaroid out and shakes it before handing it for Warren. 

He takes a look at the photo of him and Nathan laughing in their Halloween costume. “I have to admit, Max, you’re always taking the best shots.” Warren says as he goes to hand the photo back to her but she tells him to keep it. “Ain’t got no place to put it, Maxster.”

Max takes the photo to hold onto it for him in her bag. “By the way, Warren, that costume looks fantastic. I love how you got his arc reactor to light up.”

Warren stands up and puts his mask to do a 360 turn. Max takes another photo with her old camera. “Took me all month to put this baby together,” he says before taking the mask off again and sitting back down. 

Warren feels like his heart is beating faster. It was a satisfying feeling for him to have Max impressed with what he made. He looks at her with a smile on his face and his eyes light up. Nathan takes note of the way he looks at Max, who’s fiddling with her camera. Of course, she would still be oblivious to Warren’s signs. A part of Nathan wishes that Warren didn’t have this insane crush on her, or that he’d just realize she only sees him as a friend. 

Warren leans into Nathan’s ear to whisper something. “I think this is the right moment to make my move, don’t you agree?” Nathan shrugs his shoulders, not wanting to give him a definitive answer. “I’m going to go for it.” Warren stands up from his seat and extends his arm out. “What do you say, Mad Max? Wanna go dancing with me?” He tilts his head in the direction of the large crowd dancing in the junkyard. 

Max looks up from her camera and stares at Warren’s hand. “I’m not really a dancer, Warren.”

“You’re always telling me to relax and take a break from working all the time. You’d be helping me relax by accepting this dance.” 

Max smirks and takes his hand, getting out of her seat. “You’re very convincing, you know that right?” They hum in agreement. “Let me put my bag in the VVIP section.” The VVIP section being the small shed. 

Nathan watches the two leave the VIP section to dance with the larger crowd of people. Warren had his mask on again and was doing the most out of world dance there was. Max stands there laughing at him. He admires Warren’s confidence in himself that he’s able to make a fool of himself and not worry about what the people around him think. It’s a quality he found to like a lot and wishes for himself. 

Nathan takes a blunt out of the back of his pocket and lights it up. He sits back to watch the two as he smokes on top of the boat. Nathan has grown to like the boy more than he’d like to admit. It was agonizing to think the feelings might not be mutual. Especially with his known interest in Max. 

His thoughts are interrupted when he hears a loud bang to the side of him. He spots a hand on the edge, like it’s struggling to get on board. Moments later, Victoria throws her whole body on top of the boat. 

“That was so exhausting just trying to climb this piece of shit.” She says as she brushes herself off.

“Hey!” They both turn their heads to the direction of the voice. Chloe was clearly pointing at Victoria. “Listen, Kari. I deserve to be here becau-“ She is lifted from behind by Justin. He walks to the side of the boat and throws Victoria overboard. 

Nathan rushes over to the edge to see if she was all right. She appears to have landed on an old bean bag chair. The expression on her face did not scream content. “You okay?” Nathan asks.

“I’m fucking fine.” Victoria gets off the old bean bag and brushes herself off. “I need a fucking drink.” She begins to walk and push people out of her way. 

Nathan sits back on the chair, scouting for Warren. “Are you having a good time by yourself up here?” Warren’s voice startles him from behind. 

“That was a fast dance.” He tells him. 

“Chloe stole her away and told me to get lost.” Warren takes his seat next to Nathan. 

Nathan brings the blunt to his lips, inhaling the smoke before puffing it out. “You wanna give it a try?” He offers the blunt to Warren.

Warren stares at the blunt in Nathan’s hand and looks up at him, shaking his head. “Underaged drinking is enough for me.” Nathan chuckles. “I know, I know, I’m a prude.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Nathan takes another puff. 

As Warren opens his mouth to speak another word, they hear faint yelling in the background. Turning their heads to the VIP section, they seeing Rachel getting aggravated and yelling at Frank. The man looks like he’s stoned and drunk at the same time.

“Get out, Frank. Get the fuck out of here now.” She points in the direction for him to leave but he continues to argue back.

“What the fuck’s his deal,” Nathan says.

Frank looks as if he could collapse any minute. They wonder what has been going on between the two that’s causing Frank to make a scene. He tries to grab her wrist but Rachel slaps his face instead. The older man raises his hand until Chloe comes and pushes him away. 

“What the fuck is your problem Frank?” Chloe yells at him. 

Frank looks around the VIP area and sees everyone staring at him. “Fuck every single one of you.” He picks up a bottle of vodka from one of the tables and walks out. 

Chloe and Max bring Rachel into the VVIP section to make sure she’s all right. 

“That Frank guy seems to be quite the character,” Warren speaks out then turns to Nathan. “Hey,” he nudges his shoulder to get his attention. “You should do something else at this party other than sitting here and trying to get high.” Warren grabs his wrist and drags him out of his chair. Nathan groans.

He felt completely fine with what he was doing. In fact, it was what he normally does at most parties anyway.

Still holding on to Nathan’s wrist, Warren brings him out of the VIP section to look for an activity to do. “How about we go smash some pumpkins, huh?” He points in the direction of people playing baseball with pumpkins. “That seems like something you’d be into.” 

Warren grabs one of the metal baseball bats and hands it to Nathan who reluctantly grabs it. “I hate sports.” 

Warren goes to grab a small pumpkin. “Weren’t you on the football team, freshman year?”

“Yeah, and I hated every fucking minute of it.” Nathan prepares his stance to bat. 

As Warren tosses the pumpkin, Nathan misses and it hits his stomach. “Fucker.” He spits out and Warren laugh. Nathan takes his bat again to smash the pumpkin on the ground. Its contents get all over the two of them. “I want to do something else.”

“Then let’s go dancing!.” Warren grabs his wrist again and drags him to the crowd of people. 

“Maybe you can make Max dance but I don’t fucking dance, Graham.” Warren begins to dance the most ridiculous moves. Nathan chuckles. “Put your mask back on, you look like a fool. I want to go back to the boat and finish my blunt.”

“Not until I get you to dance.” Warren tries to move his body to beat of the music. 

Nathan shakes his head, smiling at him. “That’s not happening.” 

Warren grabs both of Nathan’s hands, trying to get him to move. “Come on, just shake. Even for a little bit.” He lets go. “Ever seen Iron Man try to twerk?” 

“Warren, stop.” Nathan laughs, turning his head away as he gets second-hand embarrassment from the other boy. “I’m going back to smoke some more.” He begins to walk away and Warren catches up with him.

“You know, for a guy who throws a ton of parties, you’re really boring at them.”

“That’s because I’m not high enough yet.”

Warren scoffs. “I’ll just have to teach you how to have fun without getting high. Watch, one day I’ll get you to dance.” 

“In your fucking dreams, Graham.”

The two arrive back at their spots on the boat. Nathan reaches his back pocket to roll another joint. 

“Rachel!” They turn their heads and spot Frank screaming from the top of an old school bus. 

Rachel turns around to look at Frank and rolls her eyes. She and Chloe are outside the VIP entrance, a few yards away from the bus. “Why does he always have to make a scene like that?” She tells Chloe. Rachel turns back around, not giving him any attention. 

“Fuck you, pretentious bitch!” Frank yells. The man didn’t look stable at all as he couldn’t stand straight. Frank stumbles on his own feet, looking as if he could collapse at any moment. He puts his hand on his chest as if something were causing him pain. Frank throws up on a crowd below him and they scream in disgust. 

People begin to throw various objects at him. “Fuck you man,” one of them shouts. 

Frank tries to deflect everything with his arms. His eyelids become heavy before falling shut. He feels his heart beating faster and faster. The moment he closes his eyes, Frank falls off the bus. Everyone in the junkyard gasps in fear, some even screaming. Rachel runs toward him.

Warren and Nathan rush to the scene, pushing people out of the way. Rachel is on the ground, holding onto Frank. 

“Oh my God, he’s not breathing! Someone call 911!” Rachel shouts after placing her head on his chest. She begins giving him CPR. “It’s not working!” She screams in frustration. 

Nathan feels like he should do something to help but all he could do was stare at Frank in shock. Was Frank dead? A fall from that height shouldn’t kill him but he was high as fuck earlier. What if it was an overdose? Nathan begins to breathe heavily while looking at the body. If he continued to do drugs, was he going to end up like the man lying on the cold ground one day? If Nathan didn’t realize the consequences of his choices before, it’s hitting him hard now. 

“I-I can’t be here,” Nathan says. Everything he was seeing was freaking him out. He grabs Warren’s wrist. “We need to go.” Nathan begins to drag him along, away from everyone while his eyes search for Victoria. 

“Nathan, stop.” Warren releases himself from his grip. “Nate, how can we just leave? Someone could be dead.” 

The anxiety Nathan had was getting to him as he begins trembling. “Please, Warren. I want to go back to the dorm.” 

Warren looks into Nathan’s pleading eyes. He didn’t look like he was in the right state of mind. “Okay, but I’ll drive.”

Nathan thanks him. “We need to find Victoria though.” 

“Nathan!” They turn to see Victoria rushing to the two. “Holy shit, what the fuck just happened. I don’t even know how to react right now.”

The trio rush back to Nathan’s truck. Nathan couldn’t make it back on his own and was holding onto Warren the whole way there. He starts hyperventilating as soon as he gets into the passenger seat of his own car.

“Oh my God, Nathan,” Victoria says as she covers her mouth with both her hands. She didn’t know what to do as she’s never seen her best friend have a panic attack. 

“Nathan?” Warren says as he begins to take off his costume. “Nate, look at me. Look at me, Nathan.” He then goes to physically turn the boy’s head and puts Nathan’s hand on his chest. “Close your eyes, all right?” Nathan does as he’s told. “Just focus on me. Focus on my breathing.” Nathan feels Warren’s chest rising and falling. “Let’s count to ten. okay? I’ll do it with you. One… two… three.” Nathan mentally counts along in his head and his breathing becomes a little more stable. 

Warren ignites the engine before driving off. His rubs his hand along Nathan’s thigh to help keep him calm. On the way back, they pass a couple of police cars and an ambulance with their sirens on. The whole car ride back to Blackwell was in complete silence. The three get out of the car and just stand in the parking lot, not looking at one another. 

Victoria has her hand on her arm, wanting to say something to Nathan but can’t find the words. “I’m going to bed,” she says quietly and Nathan mutters an ‘Okay.’ Victoria wipes a tear from her face as she walks back to the dorm. 

The two boys are left alone as they bask in the quietness. “Are you feeling better?” Warren speaks out and Nathan nods his head. 

“We should probably get some rest too,” he says before they head back.

In the bathroom, Nathan washes the makeup off his face while Warren brushes his teeth at the sink next to him. Patting his face with a towel, Nathan turns his head towards Warren. “Thanks. For tonight, I mean. I’m sorry you have to keep seeing me like this.” 

Warren looks back at him. “It’s nothing really.”

“Warren, shut up. It means a lot to me, really.” Warren gives him a faint smile. They finish washing up before exiting the bathroom.

The moment Warren reaches his door, he hears Nathan calling to him. “Is it alright if you slept with me? Just for tonight.” Nathan looks at the floor, avoid his eyes. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, but I’d like the company.”

“Sure.” Warren follows Nathan in the boy’s room. 

Nathan gets into the comforter and Warren crawls in next to him. They lay side to side in the darkness of the room.

“Tonight was scary,” Warren admits. “What happened to that guy, it’s kind of hard to forget.”

Nathan hums in agreement. “Yeah, it is.” He says quietly. Nathan felt the urge to find comfort in Warren. He hesitantly goes to rest his head on the boy’s chest and feels him stiffen. “Sorry,” Nathan whispers.

Warren shakes his head. “It’s fine. It was unexpected that’s all.” 

“So you don’t mind?”

“If it makes you feel better, then no.” 

Nathan rests his head back on Warren’s chest and throws his arm across his body. He then feels Warren put his hand on his back. Nathan thought having someone sleep with him would stop his mind from thinking about what happened to Frank. How that could be him one day. He tries to focus on Warren’s breathing, feeling his chest move up and down. It didn't take long to put his mind to rest afterward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!  
> So I know I missed last week’s update, but my life has gotten really busy so didn’t have time to finish writing and editing the chapter for last week.  
> I want to let you guys know that for the next month or so, updates won’t be as frequent until my schedule becomes less busy.  
> That being said, I hope you enjoyed this update! Thank you all for reading!


	7. Fly Me To The Moon

Nathan walks out of the main Blackwell building, fiddling with his camera as he goes down the steps. The party was only two days ago, and the events were still fucking with his head. He wanted to drink it all away, but it was a struggle for him to even look at a bottle. It was hard for him to focus on school as well. Watching Frank fall off the bus and seeing his body on the ground was constantly replaying in his head. 

When Nathan looks up from his camera, he sees Rachel sitting at one of the benches. While propping up her chin with her elbow on the table, she watches the car go by. It was the first time he saw her since the party. Whatever Rachel was going through, Nathan figures it might be worse than him. After all, she was the one who organized the party and had multiple arguments with Frank. He wasn’t even sure what happened to the man. 

Was Frank really dead or were the medics able to revive his life? The local news media coverage of it was relatively quiet. Nathan wouldn’t even be surprised if Rachel’s father, the district attorney for Arcadia Bay, paid to not have the party be reported.

Nathan goes to sit on the other side of the bench, across from Rachel. “Hey,” he says to her. Rachel doesn’t take her eyes off the road. Either her mind is in some kind of deep thought or her spirit’s crushed from that night. Maybe both. “How are you feeling today?” 

Rachel shifts her eyes to Nathan, then back to the road. “Fine,” she lets out.

For Nathan, he thought it was a little weird seeing the girl across from him act this way. It was rare for her to be visibly upset about something. 

“Actually, I’m not,” Rachel says. “The past few days have been shit.” 

“Yeah, I feel the same way.” Rachel shifts her gaze to him. 

“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown that party at all. Frank wouldn’t have died.” 

Nathan raises his eyebrows. Frank is dead? His body begins to tremble a little. “How?” He says quietly with a hoarse voice. 

“I was in the hospital with him. The doctors tried everything they could but he’s gone.” A tear begins to stream down her face. Nathan was sure that she and Frank had some kind of relationship. “They said he overdosed on cocaine and got a heart attack. It’s why he fell off the bus.” Rachel wipes the tear from her face.

Nathan’s body goes frozen. Overdose. Just hearing that word scared the shit out of him. He was beginning to reconsider his use of addictive substances. 

“The funeral’s tomorrow,” she speaks again. “I can’t go because my parents grounded me.” Rachel’s eyes shift back to the road. “After they found out I was connected to Frank, there was no way in hell they’d let me go.” She looks back at him. “Are you going?” Rachel was already aware of Nathan’s relationship with Frank. It was no surprise to her when she was told by Frank that he sells him drugs for the Vortex Club parties.

“Maybe. I haven’t really given it any thought yet.” He had no idea who Frank was as a person. All the conversations between them were exclusively about drugs. 

“Since I can’t make it, can you go for me?” Rachel asks. “Please.” 

Nathan looks into her eyes. They were the eyes of someone who was mourning a loss. “Yeah, of course.” She gives him a faint smile. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to be there anywhere. Nothing seems to ever stop you.”

“I can’t wait to get out of here and move to LA.” Rachel straightens up after the sound of a car stopping. 

Nathan turns his head to look at the road and sees Rachel’s father in the driver seat. He recognizes him from a few school events he attended but never met the man formally. His eyes had the same coldness as his father’s. 

“That’s my ride,” Rachel says as she gets up from the bench. “My parents insisted that they pick me up from school every day from now on. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” She begins to walk towards the car.

Nathan lets out a deep breath before heading back to his dorm room. He didn’t even get a chance to ask how Rachel knew Frank. 

As he approaches his room, he sees Victoria quietly talking to herself in front of his door. Nathan hadn’t seen her since the night of the Halloween party. 

“Just knock on the door already,” he hears her say. “Come on. Nathan’s your best friend, you can talk to him.”

“Vic?” Victoria turns her head towards Nathan with wide eyes. “What’s going on?”

“I need to talk to you about something.” 

Nathan unlocks his door, letting Victoria into the room. He goes to sit on the edge of his bed while Victoria sits on the black leather couch in front of him. 

“So what happened that night,” she takes a pause, trying to find the right words to say. Nathan looks at her while she avoids eye contact. “I got scared and panicked when I saw you like that.” Nathan’s face goes somber. “I’m your best friend but sometimes I feel like there are things you’re not telling me. You had a panic attack and I froze and who knows what would’ve happened if Warren wasn’t with us.” Victoria takes a deep breath. “I don’t want that to happen next time. We should be more open to each other. Can you promise that?” 

They make eye contact in the silence. “Yes,” he says quietly. 

Victoria gets up from the couch and goes to give Nathan a hug. They stay that way for a few minutes. 

“Since Frank died, I can’t even stand the sight of any drugs or alcohol,” he tells her. 

“Did you throw them out?” Victoria wonders.

Nathan shakes his head. “They’re inside my desk.” 

Victoria gets up and sits next to Nathan on the edge of the bed. “Maybe it’s for the best to get rid of them. I don’t want what happened to that guy happen to you. Did you know him?”

“He’s how I got all the party supplies.” Victoria looks at the floor. She feels guilty for consuming all the things Nathan brought during those parties. “I like this softer side of you, Vic,” says Nathan. “You should show it more often.”

“We’re just two art students trying to fit in and find our place in this shitty word.” She goes to lay her head on his shoulder. “Promise that you won’t scare the shit out of me like that again, okay?” 

Nathan puts his arm around Victoria. “Promise.”

~~~

Nathan slowly walks up the hill in a black suit. Even the dress shirt and tie he wore is black. When he arrives at the burial site, he wasn’t surprised to see Rachel who was holding Chloe’s hand. She probably helped her sneak out of the house. To their left was Max and to Nathan’s surprise was Warren. He had his hand on her shoulder, comforting her. Warren didn’t even know the guy yet he still came. In Nathan’s mind, Warren’s a saint, always was to him.

Nathan thinks back to the night Warren slept over with him. He was glad things weren’t awkward the next morning but he noticed the boy was locked up in his room after that. He was probably working on that AI project of his. 

Nathan looks around to see who else attended, probably people Frank knew. They all had tattoos and piercing, typical. Frank’s dog, Pompidou, was laying flat on the ground, wearing a black bowtie. He wonders who’ll take the dog in now that his owner’s dead. Nathan wasn’t a huge fan of the dog. He mostly growled and barked at Nathan whenever he visited Frank. 

“Would anyone like to say a few words?” Nathan heard someone speak out. 

He sees Rachel step forward. “Frank wasn’t as bad as everyone thought he was. Sure he has is problems and issues but doesn’t everyone?” She takes a moment to pause. “He didn’t deserve to die like that.” She steps back and Chloe went forward.

“I guess I have to find someone else to get weed from,” Chloe says. Max hits her arm. “Sorry, I mean, you were a cool dude, Frank, sometimes anyway.” Chloe steps back. 

A few more people took their turn speaking about Frank before the casket slowly lowers into the ground. 

As Frank’s grave begins to fill up with dirt, Nathan pulls Rachel aside. “Chloe got you out?” he asks her.

“Was it that easy to guess?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how did you know Frank?” Nathan asks her.

“He and I sort of had a sexual relationship.” Nathan raises both his eyebrows in surprise. “At first I only did it for the free drugs and weed but I didn’t expect to actually like him. The day before the party, he was acting incredibly clingy and I’m not the kind of person who likes being tied down. I told him I need space and I just wanted to hang with Chloe. He obviously got upset and he almost hit me. I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore and said we were off.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was a toxic relationship anyway. Nothing to be sorry about except for my poor choices.”

“Rachel!” they hear Chloe call out. 

“It appears I’m being summoned. I’ll see you later, Nathan.” She begins to walk back towards Chloe and Max.

Nathan walks towards his truck that’s parked on the edge of the street. He feels his phone vibrate in his phone. It was an e-mail notification from his sister. Nathan was hesitant about opening the message. It’s been months since he last heard from her. He doesn’t even reply to any of her emails. 

_Hey Nate,_

_I know it’s been a while but I was out in the Amazon and they don’t exactly have the best Wi-Fi out there. Regardless, I met so many interesting people and it was so inspiring to learn the ways the people live out here. I’d love for you to visit one day._

_We took a boat ride along the river and saw the most beautiful, exotic animals. I just kept imagining you taking pictures of them all the time. How’s school going by the way?_

_I wish you would reply more. I know you didn’t take things easy the day you found out I was leaving but I really care about you. Please, let’s keep in touch._

_Kris_

Nathan stares at the e-mail. A part of him was happy to read that things were going well for Kristine in Brazil. Another part of him hated that she left when he needed her most. He didn’t like how should would always mention that part. 

_Hey Kris,_

_I’m doing fine._

_Nate_

He left his message short. At least it’s something to let her know that he was still alive.

Just as Nathan was about to climb into his truck, he spots Warren sitting at the edge of the dock. He decides to shut his door and join him. 

“Hey, Graham,” Nathan says as he approaches him.

Warren turns around and looks up. “What’s up, Prescott?” 

“Just waiting for this shit week to end. You?” Nathan takes a seat next to him.

“Taking some time to think about everything. School, the science fair, the party.”

Nathan leans forward with his elbows on his legs. “Yeah, same.” He reaches for the inside of his suit jacket. Nathan brought all the drugs he had left in his dorm. “I’ve been thinking about stuff too.” Warren looks at him as Nathan stares at the drugs. “I think,” he struggles to get out the words. “I think it’s time for me to get sober.” 

Warren doesn’t say anything and lets Nathan continue to talk. “Frank’s death was a wake-up call for me. That’s why I acted the way I did that night. I scared the shit out of Vic, probably the same with you.”

“You certainly did.” Warren goes to put his hand on Nathan’s. “If that’s what you really want, then I’ll be there one hundred percent of the way.” 

Nathan smiles back at him. “I also thought about seeing my therapist again. Maybe I won’t be a pussy again and leave.” He squeezes the drugs in his hand before launching them into the ocean. 

“Wow, I hope the fish won’t get high.” They both laugh.

One thing Nathan wasn’t looking forward to was the withdrawal. He’s always hated how he acted when he wasn’t on his meds or high. He never means the things he does but does them anyway without thinking. Perhaps things could be different this time around.

~~~

Nathan sits on the uncomfortable leather couch in Dr. Bill’s office in Portland. He keeps trying to shift positions but nothing felt right to him. Dr. Bill was surprised to receive a call from him yesterday, shocked that Nathan made the effort instead of his father as usual. He was fond of Nathan being more open than usual.

“So you’ve decided to become sober?” Dr. Bill asks and Nathan nods. 

“Something happened.” 

Dr. Bill removes his glasses, rubbing one side of his temple. “Nathan, you’re going to have to be more specific than that. You don’t need to be afraid of anything. This is a non-judgmental place. I’m here to help you.”

Nathan stares at the metallic abstract art on the glass table. “Someone died. At a party I went to. He overdosed and it freaked me out.”

“And you’re afraid that’ll happen to you one day?”

“If I don’t quit that is.”

Dr. Bill takes note on his tablet. “I suggest you should go to group therapy. I believe it could really benefit you.”

Group therapy? Nathan has a hard enough time talking to Dr. Bill and now he wants him to speak in front of a ton of people? “I’m not fucking doing that.” Nathan spits out.

“Nathan, if you want to get bett-“ 

“I said no.” 

Dr. Bill knew when not to push him. “Okay. It was only a suggestion, but I do hope you consider it.” 

“I think I’ve had enough for today,” Nathan says.

“All right. I’ll see you next week, correct Nathan?” Nathan was already out the door. 

In Nathan’s mind, therapy went better than usual. At least he was making the effort today. He walks along the sidewalk to get to his car but something across the street caught his eye.

It was a shop that sells science items and in the glass display was a $300 telescope. Realizing Warren’s birthday is in the coming weeks, Nathan goes inside the shop.

~~~

Warren vigorously types on his computer, writing code for his AI science fair project. He hears a loud knock at the door. It was almost midnight and he wonders who would be bothering him at this time.

When he opens the door, he’s greeted by Nathan who leans on a large wrapped box. “I hear there’s a full moon tonight."

“What’s this?” Warren questions.

“Happy birthday, Graham. This week’s been fucking depressing, I thought this might lighten things up a bit.” 

“My birthday isn’t until two weeks.”

“Just fucking open it, dude.” 

Warren makes a large tear in the wrapping. His eyes widen as he looks back at Nathan. “No way,” he lets out. Warren takes the rest of the wrapping off the box. “You bought me a telescope? This one costs hundreds of dollars.” He goes to admire the information on the label.

“It’s no big deal.” It’s only the box but Nathan admires Warren’s immense interest in the object. “Well, are we going to bring this thing up or what?”

The two carry the box to the roof together. The light emitting from the moon could rival the lights around the school. 

Warren goes to tear the box apart. An instruction booklet falls out and he begins reading through it.

“Of course you’d be the kind of person who’d read the instruction manual,” Nathan says.

“Gotta figure out how to put this thing together somehow.” Warren tilts his head in confusion. “Wow, I don’t get this.” 

Nathan walks over to Warren. “Let me see that.” Warren hands him the booklet. Nathan furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “Well, this makes no fucking sense.” He tosses the instructions behind him. “We’ll just figure it out along the way.” 

“I’m pretty sure we still need that.” Warren tries to grab the booklet again but Nathan stops him. He hands the boy a tool that came with the telescope. 

“Just forget it. You saw that thing, right? It’s complete gibberish. Let’s just figure it out together.” Warren smiles at him and accepts the tool. 

They spend almost an hour trying to assemble the telescope. When they think they finally get it right, Warren cheers in excitement. 

“I don’t know what to look at first. The moon? Maybe Venus. It is the brightest planet in the night sky.”

Nathan chuckles in amusement. “Slow down, Bill Nye. Let’s start with the moon and we’ll go from there.”

“Wait,” Warren says as he pulls out his phone. He begins to play music from it.

“Frank Sinatra?” Nathan questions. He wasn’t surprised that Warren would love listening to him. 

“It’s perfect for tonight.” Warren moves the telescope to look for the moon and adjusts the focus on it. “Wow, that’s a piece of beauty.” He backs away to let Nathan have a chance to see. 

“I’ve seen better.” 

Warren raises his eyebrows in surprise. “Be careful with what you say. I could just whack you with this telescope right now.”

“Do that and I’ll sue you.”

“Wow, classic Prescott response.” They both laugh.

Warren backs away from the telescope and sits on the ground. He looks up at the night sky and Nathan does the same. 

“How’s being sober doing for you?” Warren asks.

Nathan brings his knees to his chest. “Not as bad as I thought. Maybe because the withdrawal hasn’t hit me yet.” 

Warren puts his hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine.” Honestly, Warren wasn’t sure if that was true. He just wanted to say something to comfort him.

“So tell me,” Nathan speaks. “What other constellations are out there? Everything still looks like fucking clusters of white dots to me.” 

Warren takes his eyes off of Nathan and back to the sky. “So you know how to find the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, right?” Nathan confirms for him. “Then finding Draco the Dragon will be insanely easy.”

He scoots closer to Nathan and takes his hand. It brings Nathan flashbacks to the last time it happened. This time, it feels different to him. “About halfway of the Little Dipper, the tip of his tail is to the left.” Warren drags his finger in the sky to point out the tail. “Then you circle around the top half, connecting the stars.” He continues to drag Nathan’s finger along with his. “Then it connects to the tip of the Big Dipper, which is his head.” Warren lets go of his hand. 

He looks at Warren, then down to his lips. He almost leans in until the telescope in front of them collapses. 

Warren lets out a laugh. “Looks like we still did it wrong.” He gets up, attempting to put it back together. 

Nathan sits there, feeling his face go red. He was almost in disbelief that he tried to kiss Warren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. I actually found some time to write haha.  
> The next chapter will be coming in a couple of weeks!


	8. All The Stars

Christmas with the family was never fun for Nathan. He was stuck at his aunt’s house in Portland for the whole day, just wanting to be let alone from all his relatives and cousins. He was sitting in the corner of a room that was away from everyone else so there was some peace for him. Nathan could see his parents in the other room, laughing with his relatives.

Kristine didn’t show up but that wasn’t even a surprise to him. When he visited home last week, there was a Christmas card sent by her but he saw his father throw it in the trash. His mother recovered it later, putting it on the fridge. It was a photo of her with a bunch of little kids in Brazil.

Out of boredom, Nathan decides to FaceTime Warren. He’s at home in Seattle and his parents are throwing a Christmas party there. Nathan was grateful for Warren and Victoria for helping him with his sobriety. He was even proud of himself for seeing Dr. Bill more consistently but he kept bringing up the group therapy session. 

Nathan remembers one night; Warren actually agreed with Dr. Bill and Nathan went ballistic on him. For a whole week, their relationship was almost how it was before they became friends. 

Nathan would shove him out of the way in the hallways. He wouldn’t even bother to talk to anyone either, not even Victoria, and just lock himself in his room. Nathan would often get aggravated at the smallest things, lashing out at everyone around him: students, teacher, whoever. Even then, Warren didn’t back away and things eventually became normal again.

When Warren doesn’t answer the call, he sets his phone down only to pick it up when it begins to ring almost immediately.

“Merry Christmas, Prescott!” Warren says.

Nathan sees him holding a little baby in his arm. “What is that?”

“What do you mean ‘What is that’?” It’s my baby cousin! Isn’t he adorable?” Warren focuses the camera on the baby. 

“Please get that drool out of my face,” Nathan tells him.

“He’s just jealous that he’s not adorable like you,” Warren tells his cousin and kisses him on the top of the head. 

Nathan rolls his eyes. “Whatthefuckever.” 

“Excuse me,” Warren goes to cover his cousin’s ears. “There’s a baby in the room.” 

“Did my Christmas present for you come in the mail yet? By the way, I appreciate the flash diffuser you got me.” Nathan changes the subject.

“Actually, yes.” Warren walks out of frame with the baby, returning moments later. He’s holding a blu-ray boxset in his other arm. “I can’t believe you got me the whole Twilight Zone series. I’m going to binge it during the whole break.” 

“It’s hard not to realize that your license plate is literally the Twilight Zone. Now you can watch something legally.”

“Ouch, Prescott. Leave me and my Pirate Bay alone.” 

“So what are you going to be doing for the rest of the break?”

“Probably just binge the whole series and work on my project. You?”

“Drugs.” Warren gave the boy an unamused look. “Kidding. It was just a joke. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Maybe drive around and take photos of different places.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Nathan,” he hears his mother call him. “Aunt Becky is here, come say hello to her.” 

Aunt Becky. Nathan’s least favorite relative. Even though she’s not as pretentious as the rest of his family, she’s certainly critical of everyone around her.

“Gotta go, Graham,” he tells him.

“I’ll see you after break. Merry Christmas, Prescott.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nathan hangs up. 

He lets out a breath before getting up to greet his aunt. The dining room is packed full of relatives he barely sees throughout the year. 

“Nathan, there you are!” his Aunt Becky says, giving Nathan a squeeze. “My, you have gotten so big.” She puts her hands on his cheeks. “Your face looks a little bloated and you’re so skinny too. Maybe you need to gain a little more muscle and stop eating things with a lot of salt.” 

“It’s good to see you too, Aunt Becky.” 

“Go say hi to your cousin, Ricky. You haven’t seen him since he was a little baby.” 

Nathan suddenly feels immense pain in his groin. Apparently Cousin Ricky is old enough to get a Nerf gun for Christmas and decided to test it on him. Nathan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to not let the anger escape.

“He’s so adorable,” Nathan struggles to let out and excuses himself to the spot he’s been occupying all night. He couldn’t wait until the holiday was over.

~~~

Warren stares at his laptop in frustration. He had been working on his science fair for most of the break already and New Year’s Eve was approaching in a couple of days. Warren leans back in his chair and turns to his dad who is on the bed, looking at his phone.

“This is too hard,” Warren complains.

“What’s so hard about it?” his father says, not looking up from the phone.

“No matter what kind of code I write, my project just won’t work.” Warren slams the laptop shut and lets out a grunt. “The app on my tablet keeps crashing whenever I load it up.”

“Well, you know what I say, son. If you don’t succeed at first, try-“

“Yeah, Dad, I know. You don’t need to keep telling me that. It gets old and it’s kind of cliche.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true.” Warren’s dad gets up from the bed and opens his son’s laptop. “Let me take a look at it,” he says scanning the code with his eyes. “You forgot to add the semicolon here.” 

His father updates the code and the app opens up.

Warren stares at the screen, dumbfounded. “Dad, can you do my whole project for me?”

“Warren, it was just a semicolon and besides, if I did that, you wouldn’t learn anything.” His dad begins to head for the door and pauses. “You’re going to blow the judges away, I know it.” He swings the door close.

Warren picks up the tablet and tries to scan the laptop, seeing if it can tell him what the laptop is made of. “Please work, please work,” he says to himself silently. 

An error message appears on the screen and Warren tosses the tablet on the bed. “I think I’m done for the day.”

His phone begins buzzing at the end of his desk with a photo of Nathan appearing on the screen. 

“Hello?” 

“Pick me up,” says Nathan. 

“What?”

“I’m at the Sea-Tac airport. I need you to pick me up.” 

“What?” Warren repeats, confused by what Nathan just said.

“Just hurry and pick me the fuck up,” Nathan demands and hangs up the phone.

~~~

Warren arrives at the airport in his car, scanning the entrance for the brunette boy.

“It’s about damn time,” he hears a familiar voice say from behind the car and the passenger side opens. Warren sees Nathan standing there with a backpack and luggage. “Open the trunk.” Warren waits until Nathan gets in the car.

“I can’t believe I’m actually sitting in this thing,” says Nathan, getting into the passenger seat.

Warren takes a quick glance at Nathan before pulling the car back on the road. “You’re riding in a machine that was bought with pure hard work,” he says proudly. 

“Always the optimist.” 

“I can’t believe you flew all the way up here just to hang.”

“Do you know how bored I was back in Arcadia Bay? Vic went to the Bahamas with her family, Rachel is still on lockdown and practically everyone else is having a vacation from that shitty town.”

“I feel so flattered you came just for me.”

Nathan leans back in the seat and crosses his arms. “Pfft. Whatever.” 

He looks out the window, taking in the Seattle environment. “Do you ever miss living in Arcadia Bay?”

“Sometimes. I mean I have some family still there but I have some here too. It’s not too bad, plus Seattle’s a great city.”

After a thirty minute drive, Warren parks the car in the driveway of his house and Nathan takes his luggage and backpack out of the trunk.

“Mom? Dad?” Warren says as he opens the front door. 

His father pops his head out from one of the rooms. “What’s up, bud?”

“My friend’s staying from out of town, is it alright if he stays with us for a couple of nights?” He points to Nathan next to him.

His dad comes out from the corner to greet him. “Hello.” He shakes Nathan’s hand. “I’m Warren’s dad.”

“Nathan. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Graham.”

“Please, just call me Teddy.”

Nathan looks at him in confusion. “Your name is Teddy Graham?”

Warren’s father chuckles. “My father thought he was a funny guy.”

“He still is,” he hears an old man shout from another room, assuming it was Warren’s grandfather. 

“Have you eaten yet?” Teddy asks and Nathan shakes his head. “We’re just about to set up for dinner. Please make yourself comfortable. Warren, show your friend to the guest room.”

Warren takes his bags and Nathan follows him upstairs. “This is where you’ll be staying,” Warren says, opening the door. “Right across from me.” 

Nathan doesn’t enter the guest room but looks at the family photos on the walls in the hallway.

“Is this you at Disney World?” He points to a picture of Warren as a toddler, wearing overalls, sandals and Mickey ears.

Nathan takes his phone out and takes a photo of the photo.

“Delete that immediately,” Warren tells him.

“Hey, if you can have a baby photo of me to use as blackmail, it’s only fair that I have one of you.”

“Whatever, man.” Warren heads downstairs. “I’ll let you get settled in. Dinner should be ready soon.”

Nathan hears Warren’s footsteps going down the stairs and he enters the guest bedroom. The house felt different than his home; it felt more comfortable to him. 

He sets his backpack next to his luggage before heading downstairs. Nathan finds Warren helping his mom place the food on the dinner table. His mother looks up at Nathan.

“Hello,” she says as Nathan comes down the stairs, into the dining room. “I’m Carrie, Warren’s mom.”

“Nathan. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Please, sit down, dinner’s ready now.”

Nathan goes to take his seat next to Warren. He sees Warren’s grandfather starting the record player and music begins to play. Frank Sinatra. He lets out a small chuckle. _So that’s where Warren gets his music taste from._

Nathan takes a bite out of the steak. “This is really good Mrs. Graham. I can’t remember the last time I had food that wasn’t made by a professional chef.”

“Professional chef?” Warren’s dad questions.

“He’s a Prescott,” Warren explains.

“Prescott?” His father takes a moment to think. “Why does that sound so familiar?”

“You mean those rich assholes who own the town?” Warren’s grandfather blatantly says.

“Dad.” Teddy eyes his fathers as if he said the wrong thing.

“It’s okay. I’m kind of used to hearing it by now.” Nathan looks down at his plate. 

“It’s a shame that someone your age has to get used to hearing things like that.” Warren’s mother tells him.

“So Warren tells me you’re a photography student at Blackwell is that correct?” Teddy tries to change the subject.

“Yeah, I am. My sister’s the one who got me into it.” 

“Really? What makes you enjoy doing it?”

Nathan takes a moment to ponder. It was never a question anyone asked him. He cracks a smile before looking back at Warren’s parents. “I guess because it gives me the ability to express myself and tell the world how I feel. It’s my escape from reality, to capture reality and create stories based on one single frame.” He pauses to think again. “I think that’s why artists create, no matter what medium it’s in. Film, fashion design, performing arts, whatever it is, we all want to tell stories that relate to us and can relate to other.”

Warren’s dad looks at Nathan with a smile. “That was a very good answer from such a young man.”

“Now, Mr. Graham.” Warren’s father raises a finger to correct him. “Oh right, I mean Teddy, what made you want to be a computer programmer?”

“I’ve always been more of a numbers and math kind of guy, even when I was young. It just felt natural for me to go into that field. People have the potential to create whatever they want with coding. Scripts of codes can be seen as art itself.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

“That’s a lot of brilliant minds out there who are gonna create really great things out there.”

Nathan looks over to Warren, who’s struggling to cut part of his steak. “Yeah, they definitely are.”

“Where are you going to college? I know our son already has his eyes set on a school along the east coast whether it’s Boston or New York.”

“Well my family wants me to go to Stanford but I actually think I want to go to the School of Visual Arts in New York.” 

Warren looks up from his steak. “Wait, you’re actually going to apply there?” Nathan nods in response. “That’s really great.” Warren smiles at him and he smiles back.

After dinner, Warren collects all the plates and brings them to the sink to wash. To his surprise, Nathan volunteered to help. 

“You know, you don’t have to do this. You’re our guest after all,” Warren says as he cleans the plate and passes it to Nathan to dry.

“It’s fine as long as you don’t spray me again like that last time.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that. It still cracks me up.”

“Shut up.” Nathan continues to dry the plate with the dishcloth and puts them in the cabinet. “So what’s our plan for tomorrow?”

“Well I was just going to keep working on my project but I didn’t expect you to visit.”

Warren hands Nathan the last plate. “Show me around Seattle then.”

~~~

Warren puts on a light jacket from the closet. “Dad, I’m taking Nathan out to see the city.”

“Okay, stay safe,” he hears his father say from another room.

Just as Warren was about to pull out the driveway, his father knocks on the window, signaling him to roll it down. “I forgot to tell you, remember to always wear your seatbelts and don’t forget to check all your mirrors. Follow all of the road signs-”

“Dad, I know all of this already. We’re going to be fine.”

“I know, but I just want to make sure.” He puts his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Have fun, but stay safe. If you need anything, just call me, okay?” 

“Okay. We’re going now.” Warren rolls up the window as they say their goodbyes and backs out of the driveway. 

Nathan stares at Warren. He’d be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t jealous of Warren’s relationship with his father. It was always something he wanted with his own dad. 

“Can I play my music?” Nathan asks.

Warren hands him the aux cord. “Knock yourself out man.” 

They sit in silence, letting the music play on its own. The next track in Nathan’s playlist starts and Warren recognizes it immediately. “You added Frank Sinatra to your playlist?”

Nathan shrugs. “This dude’s got some pretty good songs.”

“This ‘dude’ is a freaking legend. Am I finally rubbing off on you?”

“In your fucking dreams.”

~~~

When Nathan gets out of the car, he’s immediately greeted by the view of the Space Needle that was a few buildings away. He had to shield his eyes from the blinding light of the sun to look at it.

“Here we are,” Warren says. “The Museum of Pop Culture. You’re going to love it. They have a whole exhibit about Marvel and props from all the films.” 

Nathan couldn’t help but chuckle softly at Warren geeking out as they walk into the weirdly shaped metal building.

Warren spent the whole time admiring all the props and costumes they had on display from all the movies. 

“This Groot looks so real,” Warren says, admiring the statue. He then reaches his hand out. 

“Please don’t touch that, sir.” An employee tells Warren and Nathan laughs.

When they visited the gift shop, Nathan learned how annoying it can be to shop with Warren. The boy couldn’t make up his mind on the simplest thing.

Should he get the black shirt or the blue shirt? Should he get the bigger mug or the smaller one? Nathan made sure to make a mental note to never shop with him again.

After the museum, they strolled around the nearby park and the surrounding area before stopping to eat at a pho restaurant. 

“Doesn’t Max live here?” Nathan says before shoving some noodles in his mouth.

“Yeah, she does. She lives on the other side of the city so we don’t get to hang out as often.” Warren slurps up some noodles.

“So what’s next, Tour Guide Warren?”

“Well, there’s a Ferris wheel that has a pretty nice view of the city besides the Space Needle.”

After the sun had set, the two treated themselves to ice cream cones as they walk along the waterfront on their way to the Seattle Great Wheel.

“You’re such a caffeine addict that even your choice of ice cream is the coffee flavor, Graham,” Nathan taunts him as he licks his mint chocolate chip ice cream. 

“I can quit caffeine whenever I want. Today’s not going to be that day.”

When they arrive at the pier, there was already a long line to get on the Ferris wheel. 

“Favorite animal?” Nathan asks him, leaning on a rail as they wait in line.

“Apes. Gotta love those Planet of the Apes movies, man.”

“I should have already known.”

“And whales are yours?”

“That obvious?” Nathan looks up to see the lights illuminating from the Ferris wheel. “I love them. Their sounds just make me feel at peace and they’re just so adorable.”

Warren and Nathan get into the pod when it was their turn and they ascend in the Ferris wheel. 

Warren looks at the city from people. “I love the city lights,” he says quietly. “I love nature too, don’t get me wrong.” He turns to Nathan. “But there’s just something about the bustling life and the technological innovations that draw me to them.”

“Do you like it here more than Arcadia Bay?”

Warren takes a moment to think. “I’m not sure. A lot of my friends are there but there are times where I feel like I don’t fit in. Which is most of the time I guess.”

“I don’t think someone with a big brain like yours belongs in a small town anyway.”

Warren smiles, looking at Nathan. “I don’t think someone with a talent like yours should be running a whole business that has nothing to do with art.”

Nathan looks down at Warren’s lips and starts to lean in.

“We should probably head back home after this,” Warren says.

Nathan back up. “Yeah, it’s getting pretty late.”

~~~

Nathan felt rather comfortable spending the rest of the break with Warren’s family. He learned about interesting tales from Warren’s grandfather about his time in Vietnam and being in the air force in general. In old photos he was shown, he noticed a strong resemblance between Warren and his grandpa.

“This is me and my jet,” Warren’s grandfather flips to the next page. “This is a photo of just my jet and this one is the inside of my jet.” He flips the page again. “This one is me fixing my jet.”

“You must’ve really loved that jet, Mr. Graham.”

“That jet and I have gone through so much during the war.”

During New Year’s Eve, they hung around Chinatown and ended the night with dinner at the top of the Space Needle with dinner and a fireworks show. When the fireworks went off, they were out on the observation deck. Nathan couldn’t help but admire how the fireworks were reflecting off of Warren’s eyes. 

“Smile boys,” Nathan hears Teddy say and turns his head to see him with his phone, ready to take a picture.

Warren goes to put his arm around Nathan, holding up a peace sign. 

“I think this one’s worth putting on the wall,” Teddy says as he looks at the photo of them with fireworks in the background. “Alrighty, now it’s time for all of us to take a selfie.” Teddy tries to get in-between his son and Nathan.

“Dad, stop trying to be cool.” His father takes the photo.

“Aw, come on, Graham. Don’t be jealous just because your dad’s cooler than you.” Nathan tells him and Warren gives the boy a slight shove. Teddy takes one last picture of the two.

~~~

“Dad, you don’t need to tell me this every single time I drive,” Warren says, complaining about his father’s lecture about road safety.

Blackwell was back in session tomorrow and it was time for both of them to head back.

“I know but I just want you to stay safe.” Teddy goes to give his son a hug.

“Thank you for letting me stay with you guys,” Nathan tells them.

“It was our pleasure,” Warren’s mom tells him. “Please visit again, we enjoyed having you here.”

The boys in get the car and as Warren backs out of the driveway, he waves his parents goodbye as they do the same.

“Back to the shit hole,” says Nathan.

~~~

Warren pulls into the parking lot of Blackwell Academy after a five-hour drive.

“Is it a bad thing that I want to burn that building to the ground every time I see it?” Nathan speaks.

“What happened to new year, new Nathan?”

“I never said that.”

“Would you consider it?”

“Fuck you Graham.” Warren laughs. 

Nathan looks back at the school. He already misses being at Warren’s house. “I had a good time, by the way.” Nathan turns back to Warren. “It was nice spending time with your family. It’s different than what I’m used to, that’s for sure.”

“Well, I’m glad you came. If you didn’t, I would’ve probably been stuck staring at my computer screen, bleeding my eyes out as I work on that project with The Twilight Zone playing in the background. I had a great time too.”

Nathan looks at Warren’s eyes, then down to his lips and leans in closer. The moment Nathan connects their lips, Warren doesn’t resist and kisses back. The scent of the boy intoxicates Nathan's nose like it's a drug. He runs his finger's through Warren's hair but pulls back almost immediately after realizing what he had just done. 

“Shit,” he says, opening the door and rushing out. 

Warren looks through the rear window to see Nathan leaving the parking lot as fast as he can. He leans back into the seat trying to figure out what just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and done with my finals! It's been over a month but I should be able to update more frequently now and the next couple of chapters are already in the works.  
> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter after my mini hiatus!


	9. Let It Be

Warren stares at the screen of his laptop in his dorm room. Not one piece of code has been typed as his mind wanders elsewhere. The kiss between him and Nathan was constantly replaying.

After what happened, Warren tried knocking on his door and talking to him but the boy wouldn’t come out. 

Warren looks at his phone with all the messages he sent to Nathan wanting to figure out what happened. He knew Nathan would’ve never replied to any of them but he felt it was worth it to try. Was the kiss that bad? He wondered.

Warren got up to pace around his room, pondering the possibilities. If Nathan kissed him, does that mean he likes him? Warren kissed back, and he wasn’t even sure if he felt that way. All of this was confusing Warren and he wasn’t really sure what to do. He was sure if anyone could give good advice, it would be Max. 

The boy furiously races to Max’s room, repeatedly knocking on the door before Max opens it.

“Happy new year, Warren. You seem like you’re in need of something urgent.” Max lets him into the room. She goes to sit on the couch and pick up her guitar before playing a soft, mellow tune. 

“I need your advice. Relationship advice to be exact,” he says, standing in front of her. 

Max chuckles. “I kind of feel like you’re asking the wrong person for this kind of thing.” 

“If I’m going to be completely honest, you’re probably the only friend I can talk to about this stuff.”

“What about Nathan?” 

“Well you see, that’s exactly what this is all about.” Warren rubs the back of his head with his hand.

“Okay, this is going to be interesting.” Max stops playing the guitar and sets it down, using the top of the headstock to rest her hands and chin. “Tell Dr. Caulfield what happened.”

Warren goes to sit on the edge of Max’s bed. “So it’s probably no secret that Nathan and I have been spending quite a bit of time together these past few months.”

“Kind of hard to ignore.”

“Yeah, but anyway, he flew to Seattle over the break to hang out and stay for a few days. The moment we came back to Blackwell yesterday, we sort of…” Warren trails off. 

Max raises an eyebrow. “Sort of…?”

“Sort of…”

“Warren, just say it.”

“Nathan and I kissed. Well actually, he kissed me but I kissed him back.” 

“And how is that an issue exactly?”

“Honestly,” Warren pauses and looks around the room before looking back at Max. “I thought I had a thing for you. I even tried to hit on you a couple of times but I don’t think I feel that way with you any longer.”

“I’ll be honest with you, Warren, I knew you were hitting on me. I just wasn’t that interested.” Warren raises both in eyebrows in surprise. “I know, I’m an ass. I should have told you sooner.”

“It’s fine, Max. For real.”

Max gets up from the couch and sits next to Warren. “So are you trying to tell me that you like Nathan now?”

“Maybe? I’m not sure. I mean I liked it when he and I kissed but him and me as an item? It never even crossed my mind. Maybe everyone’s right, I’m just oblivious to things.”

“Have you tried talking to him about this?”

“Have I tried talking to him about this? Of course, I’ve tried Max, since it happened yesterday. But he just keeps ignoring me like I don’t exist at all.” 

“What are you planning to say to him when you get the chance?”  
“Man, I don’t even know.” Warren lowers his head and looks at the floor. 

Max shifts her body to face Warren, tapping his shoulder to get the boy’s attention. “Practice on me then.”

“What?” Warren asks as he turns his attention back to her.

“Practice what you want to say to Nathan on me.”

“Okay?” Warren shifts his body to face Max. “Max.”

“I’m not Max, I’m Nathan, remember?”

“Right.” Warren clears his throat. “Nathan, I want to talk to you about what happened yesterday.”

“Nothing fucking happened, dipshit,” Max says as she attempts to talk like Nathan.

Warren tries to contain his laughter but breaks out anyway. “I’m sorry, but your impression of him is pretty spot on.”

“Get to the fucking point, dude. I don’t have all day.”

“Nathan, if what I’m thinking is right and we’re both on the same page, I think I like you too. That is if you like me like that. I mean, I can understand why you wouldn’t. I can list a ton of things why you wouldn’t. I know I can be a workaholic and that might not be attractive and I know that my family can be embarrassing sometimes and not to mention that fact tha-“

Max puts her hands up to stop Warren from speaking any further. “Warren, you’re rambling. You’re also downplaying yourself way too much.”

“I’m sorry, Max.” Warren lowers his head again. “God, why is this so hard?”

Max goes to put her hand on Warren’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s all right. You just need a little more practice. You ready to try it again?” 

Warren looks back up at Max and nods his head.

~~~

Nathan paces back and forth in Victoria’s dorm room, seeking advice about the moment he had with Warren in the car. He wasn’t sure what to make of any of it and thought Victoria would be the best person to help him.

His kiss with Warren was spontaneous and he wasn’t sure if he regrets it or not. 

“And, and, and then we kissed! Like I fucking kissed him, Vic.”

“Maybe you like him, like more than just as a friend.”

“What? No, no, that can be it. Warren and I are just friends.”

“Friends that kiss?”

“It was just once.”

“You’re just in denial, Nathan,” she says as she files her nails. 

“I’m not fucking in love with him, Vic.”

“What are you so afraid of, Nate?”

Nathan slumps down next to Victoria on her couch and puts his hands on his face. “I don’t know.” Removing his hands, he looks at Victoria. “Maybe I just ran away because I’m scared of ruining my friendship with him. Like nothing can ever be the same if we get together and then somehow break up.”

Victoria brushes the hair away from Nathan’s forehead. “Have you talked to him about any of this?”

“I tried to knock on his door this morning but I couldn’t even put my fist to the door. It felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack.” Nathan gets up and begins to pace around the room again. “I just decided it would be best to just ignore him. For now.”

“Ignore him? You really think that’s the best thing to do?”

“I don’t know what else I would do.” Nathan goes to look out Victoria’s window. “Everything would be so much easier if I had the superpower to read minds.”

“Yeah, now I definitely know you’ve been spending way too much time with that boy. Just talk to him and you won’t have to read his mind.”

“No offense, Vic, but you’re not being really helpful right now.” Nathan opens the door only to see Warren exiting Max’s room.

“Nath-“

Nathan slams the door shut as fast as he could.

“You can’t avoid him forever,” Victoria tells him.

“Just watch me.”

~~~

The only class Nathan had with Warren was science with Ms. Grant. He was just happy that his seat was in the front while he was in the back.

“Next week is our field trip to Yellowstone National Park,” Ms. Grant says as she passes a form to each student. “It is the first national park in the world and the science department is partnering up with the photo department to be able to put this trip together.” 

Nathan takes the form from Ms. Grant and passes one to Victoria. “It’s a 16-hour long trip, one way, and we will be there for four days and three nights. Please get these forms signed by your parent or guardian and if your family isn’t local like many of you, an email has already been sent.” 

“16-hour trip?” Victoria says to Nathan. “Fucking hell.”

“Aw come on, Vic. At least you can work on your beauty sleep.” 

“Shut up, Nathan.”

Ms. Grant continues to explain the trip. “If you look through the packet, you will see a detailed itinerary. This is the first time we’re doing this at Blackwell so I hope all goes well and you are all well behaved on the trip.”

By the end of the class, Nathan could tell that Warren was going to go straight towards him. Before Warren could say anything, Nathan grabs a flask from one of the tables and dumps the liquid substance on Warren’s shirt.

“Ah, crap!” Warren shouts, looking down at his shirt.

Nathan doesn’t look back and proceeds to exit the school building. He spots Rachel sitting at a bench she normally occupies since her grounding and approaches her. Victoria was no help to him in terms of advice, maybe Rachel could provide some input.

“Mind if I take a seat?” Nathan sits across from her without a response. 

Rachel doesn’t look at him as she continues to stare at the road. Nathan notices how bad of a mood she seems to be in right now. He thinks it would be best if he left her alone.

“Listen, if this is a bad time, I’m just going to go.” Nathan begins to stand up but Rachel stops him.

“Sorry, it’s fine. Just stay,” she tells him.

Nathan sits back down. “Everything okay?” 

“Still grounded. I don’t even know if my folks will let me go on the trip next week. But enough about me, how was your break?” 

Nathan could tell that Rachel wasn’t telling him everything.

“It was fine but something happened yesterday.” Rachel raises an eyebrow, wanting Nathan to continue. “I kissed Warren.” 

Rachel opens her mouth in shock. “Oh my god, I knew it.”

“What do you mean you ‘knew it’?”

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you two are a couple.” Nathan feels his insides twist.

He shakes his head. “It’s not like that, Rachel.”

“If you don’t like him then why did you kiss him?”

“Well, I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened.” Nathan lets his shoulder slump. “He kind of kissed me back too.”

“Holy shit, man. Congrats.” 

“Rachel, I said it’s not like that. I need your help.”

“Help with what? You clearly got it in the bag. Just ask him out.”

“I’m still trying to process everything.”

“You said he kissed back. Doesn’t that mean he likes you too?”

“Rachel, I don-“

“I think it’s obvious that you like him.”

Nathan slams both his hands on the table. “Just shut the fuck up!”

Rachel looks up at him in shock as he gets up and walks away from her.

Nathan noticed that Rachel can either be your best friend or your worst nightmare. _God, she’s a fucking mystery sometimes._

 _You don’t like Warren that way. Deny. Deny. Deny._ He says in his head, walking back to his dorm room.

He was so tired of people telling him how he feels or how he should feel when he doesn’t know himself. It was overwhelming. His body is shaking and his mind feels like it’s spinning. 

He regrets going to Victoria and Rachel for advice. Maybe some things are better off figuring out yourself without the pressure from people.

He wasn’t ready for the confrontation.

Nathan figures that he needs to keep some distance from Warren so he can find out what he wants for himself.

“You’re going to be okay, Nathan,” he says to himself. “Just keep your distance from him and everything’s going to be just fine.”

The moment he reaches his dorm room door, he searches through his pockets for his keys. 

“Where the fuck is it?” he murmurs. 

After hearing the clinging of the keys in his jacket, he grabs the keys and brings it up to the lock. His hands are shaking as he fails to get the key through the lock. The keys drop to the ground. “Shit,” he says.

“Nathan?” he hears Warren’s voice from behind. Just his luck. The boy he least wanted to see right now.

“Go away,” Nathan says without looking back at him. He picks up the keys from the ground, successfully unlocking it.

“Nathan, I just wanted to talk abo-“

Nathan furiously turns around. “I said leave me the fuck alone!” He shoves Warren to the floor with a large thump.

Warren looks up at Nathan in shock while the latter avoids eye contact. There was never a moment in time where Nathan had been this aggressive to him. 

“Message received,” Warren says, almost crying.

Nathan continues to avoid his gaze and enters his room, slamming the door shut. Warren could hear the sound of him kicking something in the room.

“Fuck!” Warren hears him shout through the door.

He continues to stay on the floor, not moving an inch as he stares at the door in disbelief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is divided up into 3 acts. The next chapter will be the end of Act I.  
> It’s already turning out to be a lengthy chapter so it’s going to take a little longer to put it out. I will say that it is my favorite chapter so far and I can’t wait to share it with you all.  
> Thanks for checking out the new chapter!
> 
> Update: Chapter 10 will be posted Monday night on June 10th.


	10. Delicate

Warren rolls his luggage along the pavement outside the dorm as the sun is beginning to rise. All the students had to wake up at an ungodly hour in the morning for a science and photography field trip to Yellowstone National Park. Ms. Grant has been hyping the trip ever since the students came back from winter break. The only downside of things is that it is about a 16-hour road trip, including rest stop breaks. Regardless, Warren is excited to visit the first national park in the world, and to see the caldera.

As he arrives at the front of the school, there was already a line for the bus. He was satisfied that they were riding in the more luxurious buses rather than an old yellow school bus. Warren approaches the back of the line and spots Max chatting with Rachel who notices him. 

“Warren, you look way too happy for 5 AM,” Rachel tells him. He could see the bags under her eyes. 

“Are you kidding me?” He reaches for a brochure from his backpack. “Camping? Volcano? Geysers? How could I not be excited.” He exclaims. 

“Your science nerd is showing again, Warren,” Max jokes. “Never change, Warren.” 

“I see your parents let you go on the trip,” Warren says to Rachel.

“I’m just surprised as everyone else. They said if I behaved well enough on the trip, they’ll reconsider my grounding.”

The line begins to pick up the pace and they hand their luggage to the bus driver who stores them away. When Warren gets on the bus, he spots Nathan sitting by the window next to Victoria in the middle row. He’s disappointed, but not surprised that Nathan would rather sit with her than him. He still tries to avoid Warren like the plague, not even looking at the boy as he walks by. Warren takes a seat next to Max, letting Rachel sit by herself. 

Ms. Grant is the last person to come on the bus and takes a headcount, making sure everyone was on board. “All right, students.” She speaks in the onboard microphone. “As many of you know, this is a four day and three-night field trip at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Mr. Kim from the photography department is here to chaperone.” Mr. Kim stands and waves to everyone, even getting cheers from some of the photo students. “This is a trip to celebrate science and the arts so I hope you will all learn a lot in the next few days. Also, one of the school nurses, Nurse Barenchi, will be coming along with us in case of any kind of emergency. With that being said, let’s get this show on the road!”

“16 fucking hours. I can’t believe this. Why couldn’t we just fly there?” Victoria says with her arms crossed.

Nathan has his elbow against the window, looking through it. “Are we fucking there yet?” 

“If you’re going to be asking that the whole way there, I’d rather sit next to Daniel.” Nathan only sneers at the comment. Most people saw Daniel DaCosta as a freak. People always found it creepy with the way he would ask to draw people. Even more creepy, drawing them from afar. Nathan could only imagine what kind of dirty things would run through the guy’s brain. 

When the bus passes the sign that says ‘Now Leaving Arcadia Bay,’ Max snaps a photo with her vintage camera. 

“Is there anything you’re particularly excited to do, Max?” Warren asks her.

“Maybe taking photos of some of the animals and the landscape there. I’d love to add a photograph of a bison to my portfolio.”

Warren turns his attention to Nathan. He could only see the top of his head but he could tell that the boy was looking out the window with his headphones in. They have to talk about what happened at some point. 

He wanted to let Nathan know that the feelings are mutual. Sure he was oblivious about it as always but he figured things out. Even if I took him time to think about it. 

“Something on your mind, Warren?” Rachel’s voice catches him off guard. He turns and sees her smirking. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he lies but Rachel already knows. 

She has her elbow on the seat in front of her as she continues to smirk at him. “Sure, Warren. Whatever you say.” She puts her headphones back on and slouches in the seat.

Warren looks back at Max who only smiles at him. “Warren, it’s all right.” She tells him quietly and leans in closer to him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, no, it’s fine, Max. Nathan wants me to leave him alone, then that’s what I will do.”

“Maybe stop looking at him then.”

Back at the front of the bus, Victoria turns her head back and spots Warren looking in her direction. She taps Nathan’s shoulder and he removes his headphones. “I’m pretty sure Warren’s checking you out.” 

“What?” Nathan sightly gets up to take a look and makes eye contact with the boy. Warren immediately looks out the window and Nathan sits back down. “It’s not like I care.” He lies. 

“I think you guys should really talk it out.”

“I’d rather not.” He plugs his headphones back in and sinks into the seat. 

Warren hides behind the seat in front of him, embarrassed by the fact that he was caught looking. 

“Busted, dude,” Rachel says to him and her phone begins to ring.

“Hey, can you tell the bus driver to hurry the fuck up? I’ve seen old women drive faster.” He hears Chloe’s voice from a phone.

“The bus driver is an old woman,” Rachel tells her. 

“Chloe?” Max attempts to look at Rachel’s phone and sees her FaceTiming Chloe. “Where are you? Are you driving?”

“Look behind you, Bat Max.” 

Max goes to open the window and peaks her head out. She sees Chloe driving behind the bus in her truck. 

“Ms. Caulfield, please do not stick your head out the window.” Ms. Grant says from the front of the bus. 

Max closes the window and looks back at Chloe on the phone. “Chloe, are you crazy? What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like to you, Max? I’m going to Yellowstone with you guys!”

“Do you really need to video call us while driving? You could get into an accident. At least just put us on speaker on the phone.”

“Oh cheer up, Max. It’s a field trip.”

Warren begins to tune out Max arguing with Chloe as his eyelids become heavy. He leans his head back before falling asleep.

“Warren,” He hears Max’s voice faintly. “Warren, wake up. We’re here.”

Warren opens his eyes and rubs them. “What? We’re at Yellowstone already?”

“No, we’re stopping at a gas station. We still have a long way to go, actually.”

He got out of his seat to stretch out his limbs and his stomach didn’t feel right. “Oh man.” He says, rushing to the front of the bus, being the first one out. Warren books it to the only bathroom at the gas station. 

“Are you coming, Nathan?” Victoria asks as she put her small purse around her shoulder. Nathan slowly opens his eyes to look at her and shakes his head, going back to sleep. “Suit yourself.”

As Victoria stands in line, she realizes it’s been a ridiculously long time since Warren has been in there. Victoria aggressively knocks on the bathroom door. “Warren, hurry up.” 

“You can’t rush nature!” Warren yells from inside. 

Victoria lets out a grunt. She didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to hold it in as Warren takes his sweet time using the toilet. 

“Ms. Grant, why did we have to stop at a gas station with only one bathroom. Why couldn’t we have stopped at a real rest stop?”

“There isn’t one for miles, that’s why. It’s either the gas station or the forest, your choice, Ms. Chase.” Ms. Grant knocks on the bathroom door. “Mr. Graham, other students need to use the bathroom as well.”

From behind the doors, the is the sound of a flush and a sink going off. Moments after, Warren opens the door. “Ah, I can’t believe I held it in for so long.” 

“It’s about damn time,” Victoria says as she walks into the bathroom. She almost gags at the smell of it. “You’re so fucking gross!” She slams the door. Victoria couldn’t stand the smell Warren left behind but her bladder needed a release. 

Warren whistles his way to the gas station’s convenience store, entering through one of the doors. He finds Max looking through one of the isles. 

“Stocking up on snacks, Max?” Warren says as he approaches her.

She grabs a small bag of chips from the shelf and puts it in her basket. “Who knows when the next time we’re able to get real food.” 

Warren begins to look around the store and spots a disposable camera sitting at the back of one of the shelves. He grabs it and turns to Max. “Think I’ll get to be a professional photographer like you, Max?” He holds the camera up. “I can’t believe they still make these things.”

Max chuckles. “I think you’d be a great one, Warren Graham.” 

Ms. Grant quickly pops her head in the store. “Fifteen minutes, everyone. We leave in fifteen minutes.” 

Just as Victoria was about to step onto the bus, she notices a familiar old truck in the parking lot. “Is it just me or has that piece of crap be following up since we left?”

“It’s just you, sweetie,” Rachel says, patting Victoria’s shoulder as she hops in.

The rest of the drive was quite peaceful for Warren as he was finally able to catch up on some sleep after staying up late for so many days just working on his project. Victoria was satisfied that the bus was actually able to stop at actual rest stops as she wanted. 

After many hours of riding on the bus, they finally arrive at their destination late at night, Yellowstone National Park.

The bus pulls into a small campsite. The grounds are populated with small cabins made out of logs. There was a larger building that looks like a communal bathroom and shower area. There was even a lake next to the campground. In the center of the site, there was a place for campfires and picnic tables.

“God, it’s freezing. Who’s idea was it to come to Yellowstone in January?” Victoria complains as she gets off the bus.

“At least there’s no snow,” Nathan tells her. 

“I can’t believe we’re actually here,” Warren says to Max and Rachel, coming off the bus. “Cold or not, it’s freaking Yellowstone! I’m so excited.”

“Your attitude is everything, Warren,” Max says.

The bus driver opens the lower compartment of the bus to allow everyone to grab their luggage. All the students huddle around the fire pit afterward. 

“I know everyone’s tired right now but first I need to tell you your assignment roommates.” Ms. Grant looks down at her clipboard. “Cabin 1, Max and Victoria. Cabin 2, Rachel and Kate. Cabin 3, Stella and Brooke. Cabin 4, Trevor and Justin. Cabin 5, Nathan and Warren.”

“What the fuck?!” Nathan shouts out.

Ms. Grant looks up at Nathan. “Excuse me, Mr. Prescott, but is there a problem?” 

Nathan looks around and sees everyone staring at him. Not wanting to cause a scene, he decides not to argue. “Everything’s fine.” He says through his teeth.

“Right then, where was I?” Ms. Grant continues to read the list. 

Mr. Kim hands Warren and Nathan each a key. Nathan snatches it out of Mr. Kim’s hand and heads to the cabin.

“That was rude,” Warren says, trailing behind him.

“Shut up. Don’t talk to me.” 

They walk the rest of the way to their cabin in silence, with Warren not making an effort to strike a conversation, not even small talk. Warren didn’t know how to act around Nathan anymore, but he does know that he wants things to become normal with them again. The only problem is Nathan is refusing to do anything about it. 

Nathan unlocks the door the moment they arrive at their cabin. The inside was smaller than it looked on the outside. Just enough room for a bunk bed, a nightstand. There was even a tiny window.

“I call the top bunk,” Nathan says as he throws his duffel bag on it. He kicks his shoes off as he climbs the ladder. 

Warren rolls his luggage into the small cabin and drops his backpack next to the bottom bunk. As he sits on the bed, he stretches his arms before taking off his shoes. Warren lays on his back, hands folded on his chest as he tries to put his mind to rest.

His eyes open the moment he starts hearing whale sounds from the bed above him. He closes his eyes again, remembering Nathan needs to listen to them to fall asleep. 

Feeling uncomfortable, Warren goes to sleep on his right side. It still didn’t feel right to him and so he shifts to sleep on his left side. Warren still thinks it doesn’t make him comfortable and flops back on his back. He opens his eyes and lets out an audible sigh. He was asleep for most of the bus ride and now sleep was the last thing on his mind.

Deciding to do something else, Warren goes to pull his laptop out of his backpack. He adjusts his pillow, allowing him to sit up. The light from the screen almost blinds him. Opening up the coding program, Warren begins to furiously type code on his laptop.

Nathan opens his eyes immediately at the sound of loud, clicking keys. “Hey, you think you maybe, oh I don’t know, shut the fuck up?” Nathan says from above him.

“Could you maybe not swear in everytime you speak?” Warren continues to type, ignoring his comment.

“Just pipe the fuck down.” With a grumble, Nathan turns the whale sounds up on the Bluetooth speaker next to him.

Warren decides to type slower. Even then, Nathan opens his eyes in annoyance and throws his pillow at Warren on the bunk below. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll try to be quieter,” says Warren. 

Without bothering to get his pillow back, Nathan puts both his hands behind his head as he tries to fall asleep but his eyes are constantly being opened. He hears the FaceTime ring come from Warren’s phone. 

“Dad,” Warren says in a soft voice. “I need you to take a look at this. Something doesn’t seem right.” Warren points his camera to the laptop screen.

“Warren, it’s the middle of the night. I thought you were calling about an emergency. Did you get to Yellowstone okay?”

“I’m fine but Dad, this is an emergency. I don’t know what to do with this.” 

“I’ll take a look at it another time.” Teddy yawns and rubs his eyes. “What sounds like it’s dying?”

“Nothing’s dying. It’s just Nathan’s whale stuff. Helps him sleep or something.”

“Was that what I was hearing when he stayed over?”

Nathan tries to shift his head around to get comfortable but he needed the pillow back. Audibly sighing, he goes down the ladder to revertive it back.

“Is that Mr. Nathan Prescott I see?” He hears Teddy say.

“Hi, Mr. Graham.” Nathan lazily says as he grabs his pillow from the bed. Even though Nathan figures out things are rocky with him and Warren, he’s always happy to talk to Teddy. 

“Teddy, Nathan. I told you to call me, Teddy.”

“Teddy, your son’s being a pain in the ass and won’t let me sleep.”

“Warren, maybe it’s time you go to sleep too. You shouldn’t be staying up so late.”

“Yeah, listen to your father,” Nathan says as he climbs up the ladder.

“But that’s when I get my creative juices going.” Warren fights back.

“Goodnight, Warren.” His father hangs up.

Nathan shuts his eyes one last time but he can still hear Warren typing away on his laptop. He figures it is better to try to ignore it for the rest of the night.

As Warren wakes up he realizes fell asleep with his laptop on his stomach. It wasn’t the first time he’d woken up like this either. He stretches his arms out before getting out of the bed. Nathan was still asleep and a part of Warren felt bad that he kept him up all night. At the same time, he wasn’t. Mainly because Nathan’s been acting like a dick the whole time.

Warren searches through his luggage for his toiletries and clothes for the day before heading out to the bathroom. Just as he exits his cabin, he notices Victoria giving him the stink eye from her cabin.

“Don’t you dare think you’re going to use that bathroom before me.”

“Chill, Victoria. It’s a communal bathroom and it’s split up.”

“I don’t care. I’m still haunted by that gas station.” Victoria continues to walk towards the bathroom with her basket of products.

Even to this day, Victoria still scares Warren. Not enough to let anything she says get to him, but there was something about her that Warren finds alarming. Even so, he makes his way to get ready for the day. 

Back at the cabin, Nathan slowly opens his eyes to the blinding sunlight that was coming from the window. When he goes to sit up, he feels as if his brain was having a migraine because of Warren’s obnoxious typing. As if he didn’t already have a lack of sleep. Nathan flops back onto the bed with his arm over his eyes and hears the door open. 

“Nate,” Warren says quietly. “Nathan, you awake?”

“Shut up.”

“Ms. Grant, Mr. Kim, and Nurse Barenchi brought breakfast from a nearby diner. There’s muffins, bagels, coffee and juice on the picnic tables.” Nathan groans. “Okay, I was just letting you know.” 

Warren drops some items onto his bed before heading out again. He finds Rachel and Max at one of the picnic tables and joins them after grabbing a bagel and a cup of coffee.

“Morning, Warren.” Rachel greets him as he sits across from her and next to Max. “How’d you sleep?”

“Barley. I worked on my science fair most of the time.”

“When is that, anyway? Can’t wait to see you blow us all away.”

“It’s next month. By the way, where’s Chloe? I don’t see her truck anywhere.”

“Right behind you, Warren, my man.” Warren looks behind to see Chloe wearing a hat, sunglasses and a wig. Chloe walks around to sit next to Rachel. “Man, you guys need to find better craftspeople. Food’s gross.”

“Be nice, Chloe,” Max tells her. “The teachers got them for us and we didn’t have to pay.”

“Correction, Max, they got it with the school’s money and you’re paying for it with your ridiculous Blackwell tuition.” 

“Where are you even staying?” Warrens asks.

“With Rachel and Kate in their cabin.”

“And Kate doesn’t mind?” 

Chloe shrugs her shoulders. “She seemed cool with it.”

At the corner of his eye, Warren sees Nathan leaving the cabin, groggily walking over to the picnic tables.

“Wow, you look like shit,” Victoria says, handing him a cup of joe.

Nathan takes the coffee from her. “Thanks, I feel like it too.”

“Did you have a rough night?” Victoria asks as she watches Nathan jug the whole cup.

“Fucking Warren kept me up with his typing.” Nathan lazily grabs a muffin and shoves some of it in his mouth before heading to the bathroom to get ready.

“Okay, class.” Ms. Grant says through a megaphone. “Thirty minutes until we all board the bus and head out to our first stop. Thirty minutes.”

Mr. Kim grabs the megaphone from her. “And photography students, don’t forget your cameras.”

Everyone finishes up their breakfast before heading to the bus. Warren takes his seat next to Max at the back again while Chloe hops into her truck that she hid from the site. 

“Is this thing on?” Ms. Grant says through the bus’s microphone. “If you all read the itinerary, which I hope all of you did, you would know that our first stop is going to be Old Faithful, one of the most famous geysers at Yellowstone. Now, can anyone tell me anything about Old Faithful?” The whole bus goes silent with all the students just looking at her. “No one? Fine. Old Faithful was named by Henry D. Washburn in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. Does anyone know how geysers are formed?”

Everyone remains silent. “How about my science people?” Ms. Grant sees some people turning their heads to look out the window. Ms. Grant put the microphone away and sit back down next to Mr. Kim. “Geez, tough crowd.”

The bus ride to Old Faithful was short compared to the long journey to get to Yellowstone and despite it begin January, the geyser was surrounded by tourists. 

As Victoria gets off the bus, she sees Chloe’s truck parking from across the lot. “I swear that truck keeps following us.” She says to Nathan.

“What are you even talking about?” He begins to walk ahead of her, heading to the benches that are placed around Old Faithful. 

The whole class takes their seats on the benches, ready to see the famous geyser burst. Ms. Grant walks up to the front. “Who is ready to learn more facts about geysers?” The whole class goes silent and stares at her. “This field trip is supposed to be a learning experience for all of us. For example, did you know in the early days, people used Old Faithful as a way to do their laundry? That geyser does more than my fiancé.” The class stays silent. 

“Down in front.” A voice in the back says.

“Chloe, shh…” Max tells her.

“What? She’s boring.”

“What’s wrong with you? Everything she says is so fascinating to hear,” says Warren pulling out the disposable camera he bought back at the gas station.

“I don’t get what you find so excited about this, dude,” says Chloe.

“Shh… It can erupt any minute now.” Warren tells her. 

Chloe looks over to see Warren, Max, and Rachel all concentrating on the ground ahead of them and rolls her eyes. “If you guys need me or want to do something interesting, I’m heading over to the gift shop.”

“Okay.” The three of them say in unison without looking at Chloe.

Just as she was about to walk away, the geyser erupts. It spews out water, shooting it straight for the sky. All the tourists take out their phones to record or take a photo. 

“Huh, well that was underwhelming,” says Chloe. 

“Wasn’t that exhilarating?” Ms. Grant asks on the bus to their next destination. “Yellowstone sits on top of one of the world’s largest super volcanoes. In fact, we’re driving on top of the caldera this very moment. has erupted every 600,000 years and according to those statistics, we’re overdue for an eruption.”

“What the hell?” says Victoria, almost jumping out of her seat. “We’ve been staying on top of a volcano that can erupt any minute?”

“No need to worry, Ms. Chase. Yellowstone isn’t set to erupt any time soon, not in our lifetime.”

“Vic, the whole park’s the caldera of the volcano. How did you not know that?” Nathan says to her.

“Shut up. You sound like Warren.”

The bus pulls into another parking lot. “Welcome to Grand Prismatic Springs.” MS. Grant introduces.

The class walks along the boardwalk to see a colorful hot spring ahead. The center of the pool was a deep blue, where steam lingers just above the surface. The colors around the edges were a mix of yellows and greens and oranges that made it stand out.

“Why don’t these things have railings or some kind of safeguard?” Rachel asks with her head tilted, as she stared at the water she deemed dangerous. “I mean someone could accidentally slip or not look where they’re going and fall into the acid waters.”

“Well, we’re actually over thin thermal ground so as long as we watch where we go, we should be fine,” Warren says without really thinking about it.

“Is it bad that I’m tempted to push Prescott off this boardwalk?” Chloe asks.

Max snaps a photo of the hot spring with her vintage camera. “It’s so pretty,” she says before taking another one.

“Hey, Nate.” Nathan hears Warren shout. He turns and there’s a flash that goes off. “I guess I’m a professional photographer just like you now.” Nathan grabs the disposable camera and grumbles as he lifts his hand to throw it into the hot spring. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Prescott,” Ms. Grant grabs his attention. “Unless you plan on being banned from Yellowstone forever, I suggest not doing that.”

“Don’t take my fucking picture,” Nathan says to Warren, shoving the camera into the boy’s chest. “I can’t believe you mocked me with this thing. You want to take a picture? Use your fucking phone like everyone else.” Nathan walks past him. Warren figures he’s still upset from what happened last night.

“I’m like so highly offended,” Victoria says to Warren and follows after Nathan. 

Afterward, the class visits a few other tourists spots such as Upper Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone before settling back at the campsite.

Everyone sits on the logs that surrounds a few different campfires. Mr. Kim passes each student a metal rod to roast their marshmallows over the fire. Max is sitting with Rachel, Kate and Alyssa.

“Man, my feet hurt from all that walking around,” Warren says as he sits next to Max. “I probably need to exercise more.” He grabs a marshmallow from the bag and pops it onto the stick, letting it hover over the fire. 

From a distance, Nathan watches the fire flickering in Warren’s eyes. It was almost mesmerizing. Just like watching the fireworks in his eyes. Nathan was sitting at a fire pit with the rest of the Vortex Club. They were able to claim a spot near the lake. Nathan thinks about how mesmerizing Warren can be sometimes until he saw the look on the boy’s face 

Back at Warren’s campfire, Max turns around to grab the guitar that was behind her.

“You brought your guitar, Max?” Rachel asks.

“I wouldn’t be right if I didn’t.” Max begins to strum a few notes on the instrument before playing a song.

“Oh, I love this one.” Rachel begins to sing. 

Victoria looks over to their campfire and rolls her eyes. “What a bunch of show-off wannabes. Nathan hears Victoria’s voice and laughter, but he doesn’t pay attention to what she is saying. His mind fills with Warren, and the mix of feelings he has.

Other people in the class huddle around the campfire where Max is, listen to her and Rachel. When the song finishes, everyone around them cheers before going back to their own fires.

“That was beautiful, girls.” Ms. Grant tells them and Max thanks her.

“I’m going to get some fresh air,” Rachel tells everyone.

“But we’re outside,” says Warren.

“I mean away from the campfire.” She chuckles and heads towards the lake.

At the Vortex Club campfire, Victoria taps on Nathan's arms. “Nathan, your marshmallow’s on fire,” she tells him.

“Huh?” Nathan’s eyes shift to the marshmallow on his stick. “Ah, shit.” He shakes it off onto the ground and lets it die out. 

“You know you’re supposed to put it over the fire, not in it.”

“I know.” He reluctantly says as he puts another marshmallow on the metal stick.

When Nathan looks out at the lake, he notices Rachel standing near the edge by herself. He feels bad for what happened between them the other week and he didn’t want to ruin another friendship. Nathan gets up from the log and hands Victoria his metal stick. “I’ll be right back.” 

Nathan approaches Rachel and stands next to her as she continues to look out on the lake. “Hey, everything okay?” Rachel hums in response. “I just want to apologize for what happened last week. I didn’t mean to go off on you like that.”

Rachel turns to look at Nathan. “You didn’t go off on me and you’ve got nothing to say sorry for. It should be me who’s sorry. By the way, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all those questions basically pestering you to see that you like him. I know I was a bitch but I wasn’t in the best mood and I know that’s no excuse.” She bends down to pick up a flat rock and skips it on the lake. “There’s just family drama going on that I’d rather not talk about.” 

“If you ever need a friend to talk to, I’m around.”

“That’s great to know.” Rachel skips another rock on the water. “How are things with you and Warren?”

“Honestly? Things aren’t going well anymore.” Nathan goes to sit low to the ground, hugging his legs. 

“What happened?”

“I wasn’t in the best state of mind either. I was and still am trying to figure out how I feel and he just kept on pestering me and I shoved him hard to the floor. He seemed pretty shocked and kept his distance.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Yeah.” Rachel sits on the ground next to him. “Maybe things could’ve gone differently if I just acted normal.”

“I wouldn’t beat myself over it if I were you. Sometimes you just have to let things be and see what happens.”

Nathan looks back at everyone by the campfire and eyes Warren laughing with Max and the other students. “I think I’m going to call it a night.” He puts hands on the ground by his side to lift himself up. 

As Nathan walks past the class, Victoria looks up at him. “You’re going to bed already?”

“I’m just tired.” He says as he goes by, continue his path towards his cabin.

The moment Nathan puts his legs under the covers of his bed, Warren walks in.

“If you decide to aggressively type on your laptop again, don’t be surprised if I slam shut it on your fingers then whack you in the head with it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty beat from staying up late last night.” Warren yawns before getting in the blanket. He turns off the lamp on the nightside and snuggles in.

Nathan stares up at the ceiling, thinking about what Rachel said. He figures what she said might be right. Nathan turns over to turn on the Bluetooth speak to play his whale songs before shutting his eyes.

~~~

The next morning, the finish their breakfast before gathering around to listen to Mr. Kim. “Good morning, everyone. Today’s itinerary is all about hiking. For my photography students, I want you guys to capture images of the wildlife here at Yellowstone which may or may not be graded. You’ll be partnered up with your roommate so always stay by each other and don’t go off the trail. We’ll be walking up that path.” Mr. Kim points at a wooded area of the camp. “You’re free to roam yourself, but remember, stay on the trails.”

Nathan groans. He hates being stuck with Warren for the whole trip when all he wants is the opposite. “Graham, hurry up.” 

“Hold on. Let me finishing double checking my bag.” Warren opens up his backpack. “Let’s see. Granola bar, first aid kit, flashlight, notebook, water bottle. Yep, I think we’re ready to go.” Warren put his backpack on and joins Nathan. “So what are you planning to photograph?”

“Whatever I find,” Nathan says bluntly before walking ahead of him.

During their hike, Nathan spots a deer from afar. He kneels down to get a good shot and to turn sure it couldn’t see him and snaps a photo.

“What are you looking at?” Warren asks. The deer looks up at the boys and runs away.

“Goddammit, Warren.”

“Oh, that’s my bad.” 

Nathan stands up and puts the camera strap around his neck. “Let’s keep walking up this way,” He points out a path that divides into 3 different sections. “Maybe we’ll find something more interesting.”

As they continue walking up the path, Nathan spots something grey with antlers running from the corner of his eyes. “Holy shit, Warren, I think I just saw a jackalope!”

“What? I don’t believe you. They’re the rarest animal in Yellowstone, it was probably just a bunny. Aren’t jackalopes just a myth anyway?”

“No, I swear I saw it have antlers.” Nathan tightens his grip on the camera and goes off the trail. “I’m going after it.”

“What?! Nathan, we can’t go off trail. We don’t know our way around here. Besides, even if jackalopes are real, I hear pretty dangerous and we shouldn’t approach them.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t see me then.” 

Warren lets out a grunt and reluctantly follows after Nathan. “I’m blaming you if that thing decides to poke our eyes out.”

After a while of searching around, Nathan stands on top of a boulder to look at their surroundings. “Where the hell did that thing go?”

Warren leans against the rock. “Let’s just forget about it. Why can’t you just take a picture of a bison?”

“Is that a joke? Everyone has photos of them. I have like a hundred alone because they’re so fucking common in Yellowstone. I bet no one in the class has a photograph of a jackalope.”

“Can we just please go back on the trail before it gets dark?” 

Nathan hops off the boulder. “Fine, maybe you’re right. They’re probably just a myth after all. Maybe I’ll find something else along the way.” 

The two walk side by side as they head back but Warren stops to look around. He wasn’t sure if he recognizes the surrounding area. “I don’t think we came from this way.” 

“Are you saying we’re lost?”

“No thanks to you.”

“Me?!” Nathan was taken aback. 

“Yes, you. You thought you saw some kind mythical creature and decided to go after it like a crazy lunatic.” Suddenly, Warren finds himself being tackled to the ground by Nathan.

“You take that back.”

“No. Get off of me.”

“Say you’re sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

“Just say it,” Nathan demands. 

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” Nathan gets off of the boy, brushing himself off before offering a hand to Warren to help him up. “Why did you get so upset anyway?”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” Nathan turns away and begins to walk. “C’ mon, let’s just get the fuck out of here already."

They continue walking through the forest for what feels like an eternity, still unsure of where they were going. “Your phone doesn’t happen to have any service does it?”

“No.” 

“A flare gun?”

“For what? To burn down the whole park?”

“All right, that was a stupid one to ask on my end.” Nathan goes to sit on a nearby log. “Well, we’re fucked.”

Warren stands in front of the boy. “What are you doing? We can’t take a break. It’s almost dark and I don’t want to be eaten by a bear or a mountain lion.”

“Stop being so paranoid, Graham. We’re not going to run into a cougar.” Nathan looks around and sees a clear view of the park ahead of him. “Hey, there’s a cliff over there. Maybe we can scope out the area and find out where we are.” Nathan rushes over to the cliff and trips over a lifted root and falls flat on the ground. Warren bursts out in laughter after what he just witnessed.

“Haha, that was so funny. Now help me up, asshole.” Nathan reaches out for Warren’s hand as he’s lifted up from the ground.

The moment Nathan got up, he felt immediate pain in his right ankle and falls back to the ground. “Ow, fuck!” He screams, holding onto his ankle. “I think I twisted my ankle from that fucking tree root.” 

“Let me see.” Warren lift’s the bottom of Nathan’s jeans a little. “Yeah, you definitely sprained it.”

“Fuck. We’re lost and now I’m immobile.”

Warren takes off his backpack and sets it on the ground. “Don’t worry, I brought a first aid kit.” He says as he rummages through it. 

“Yeah, right. Like I’m going to let some teenager patch me up.”

“Fine then. I’ll just find my way back myself and leave you here injured and maybe you’ll encounter a mountain lion and become its dinner.” Warren starts putting everything away in his backpack.

“Wait, wait, wait! I’m sorry, okay? Now can you please help me? It hurts like a bitch.” 

Warren takes the first aid kit back out and opens the box. He removes Nathan’s shoe and sock and lifts the bottom of his jeans, pulling it up to his knee.

“Where did you learn how to do all this?” Nathan asks as he watches Warren wrap the gauze around his ankle and then takes a cold pack from him.

“My mom’s a nurse. When I was little, I got hurt a lot. Falling off a bike, falling off the rock climbing wall, falling off the playground. Whatever it was, my mom patched me up all the time and I just watched how she did it.” Warren finishes wrapping the gauze. You’re all done.” 

“Thanks.” Nathan murmurs.

Warren puts first aid kit back in his backpack and goes to sit next to Nathan, looking out at the view with the sun almost set. “Hey, we never really got to talk about what happened that day. And you can’t escape from it this time with that sprained ankle of yours.”

Nathan feels his own stomach drop. He knew at some point this was going to happen despite trying his best to avoid it. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

Warren lets out a laugh. “It’s funny, Max knew you were going to say that.”

“You told Caulfield?” Warren shrugs. “You wanna talk about it so bad? Fine. I kissed you. Big fucking whoop. Now we don’t need to talk about it anymore.”

“But I want to know why.”

Nathan’s words boil inside him, and he feels like he was a geyser about to erupt. “Fuck off, I don’t need to tell you.”

“Did you do it because you like me?” Nathan turns his head away, ignoring the question. “I kissed you back, you know. Maybe that meant something too.” Nathan remains silent but his lips twitch, like the words are pushing to find a way out. “Can you at least look at me?” 

“Why? So you can make fun of me?” 

“Didn’t you just hear a word I just said?” Warren turns Nathan’s head with his hand as the other boy looks to the ground. “I said I like you too.” Nathan’s eyes trail up Warren’s body until their eyes meet. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

Nathan leans in closer, almost hesitant. Warren notices his action and leans in further until their faces were inches apart. Neither of them moved as Nathan stares at Warren’s lips, breathing heavily. He closes his eyes and closes the gap between their lips. 

The scent of Warren hit’s Nathan’s nose like a drug and he deepens their kiss. He puts both his hands on the side of Warren’s face, later running one them through his hair. Warren holds onto Nathan’s arm for support as he cups one of his cheeks. Their lips move in sync with one another, neither one of them wanting to talk any longer.

Warren feels Nathan’s tongue slips into his mouth. Nathan pulls away from the kiss, only to remove the boy’s coat, tossing it aside and reclaiming his lips. Nathan’s hands begin to roam the rest of Warren’s body, one hand going under his shirt. His hand roams lower until he put his it on top of Warren’s groin.

Warren opens his eyes and backs out of this kiss. Nathan looks at him with wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

The other boy laughs and shakes his head. “It’s all good. It just caught me by surprise, that’s all.” Warren goes to lean his forehead against Nathan’s. 

“Was that enough of an answer?” says Nathan, referring to the kiss. He’s breathing heavily with his mouth slightly open. 

Warren laughs and nods his head. “Yeah. You’re not going to run away now, are you?”

“I can’t, even if wanted to.” Nathan smiles at him before giving him a quick peck on the lips. He leans back, rests his hands to the side. 

“Can I put my coat back on?” says Warren. “It’s cold.” Nathan shakes his head.

He goes to wraps his arms around Warren’s waist and rests his chin on the boy’s shoulder. Warren leans his head against Nathan’s as he puts an arm around his shoulder.

“The stars are really pretty out here,” Nathan says without taking his eyes off the night sky and Warren hums in agreement. 

“Do you believe there can be multiple universes?” Nathan speaks up after a while.

“Yeah, of course.”

“How many of them do you think we’re friends or maybe even lovers?”

“Well,” Warren brushes some hair away from Nathan’s face. “I can’t give you that answer but I know for sure that I feel bad for the versions of us who can’t experience this.” Warren closes the distance between them and captures Nathan’s lips. Nathan smiles in the kiss, placing his hand on Warren’s cheek before pulling apart.

“You know, I wonder if we’re like enemies in some of them. Maybe there’s one where I beat the shit out of you.”

“Hey, for all we know, I could’ve been the one to beat you up.”

“Pfft, doubt it.”

Warren lets go of Nathan’s hand and faces him. “Oh yeah? You really want to test it out?” He says, putting his hands up, ready to fight.

Nathan only laughs and shoves the boy’s shoulder slightly. “Shut the fuck up, man.” 

Warren laughs along. He puts his hand on Nathan’s arm before sliding it down to his hand. “What does this mean for us now?” He asks.

Nathan interwinds their fingers together. “What you do you want it to mean?”

“Something more.” Warren lightly squeezes his hand. “When did you find out that you like me?”

“I don’t know. I think just over time, it happened naturally. What about you? When you do decide that you did?”

“After we first kissed." 

The two boys hear rustling behind the bushes and they both immediately turn their head towards the source. Their hearts being to pound faster and faster.

“Oh man, a cougar’s gonna get us now,” says Warren, clinging onto Nathan as the other does the same.

“Shut up. It’s not a cougar.”

The bush rattles some more before they see Rachel coming out of it. “Where the hell are you guys been?” Rachel asks as Max and Victoria follow behind her.

“How did you guys find us?” Nathan wonders.

“Were you guys lost? The trail was like 25 feet away.”

“Everyone was back at the campsite by four but there was no sign of you guys so we went searching, figuring you two got lost,” says Victoria.

“We heard some voices that sounded like you two coming from this direction and look where it lead us,” Max explains.

Warren puts his coat on. “I can’t believe we were so close to the trail.” Warren helps Nathan up who stands on one leg.

“Oh my God, what happened to you?” Victoria asks, covering her mouth.

“I just sprained my ankle, no big deal.” 

“No big deal?” Warren says. “You were practically crying like a baby.” Warren puts an arm around Nathan to help him.

“I was not.”

Victoria goes to help support Nathan on the other side. “You had me worried, you know,” Victoria says to Nathan. “What if you were eaten by a mountain lion or something?”

“Why does everyone keep thinking that?”

“Let’s go,” says Rachel. “I’ll lead the way back to the campsite.” Nathan puts his arms around Victoria and Warren as they walk back. “What were you guys doing back there anyway? Seemed intimate.”

Warren’s face goes flush. “Nothing.”

“Making out,” Nathan says bluntly and everyone stops their trails.

“Wait,” Rachel turns around to face them. “Are you being for real?” Nathan nods his head. “Holy shit, congrats you two.” She continues to lead the way. 

“Hang on,” says Victoria. “I’m still trying to absorb all of this.”

“You couldn’t even be sly about it?” Warren mutters to Nathan.

By the time they got back to camp, Ms. Grant and Mr. Kim rush over to the group.

“Oh my, thank goodness you all are back.” Ms. Grant says. “None you are hurt, are you?”

“Nathan sprained his ankle. Do you know where Nurse Barenchi is?” Warren asks.

“Follow me.”

After Nurse Barenchi took a look at Nathan and helped him with his ankle, Warren helps him get back to their cabin.

“I don’t think I can get up to the top bunk,” says Nathan.

“Just sleep with me.” Warren lays down Nathan follows. He puts his head on Warren’s chest. “Do you need me to put on that whale stuff?”

“I think I’m good,” Nathan says before shutting his eyes.

When morning came, he was the first to wake. Nathan looks down at the sleeping boy and smiles at him. His eyes move down towards Warren’s neck and an idea pops into his head. He lowers his face, close to Warren and begins planting kisses along the boy’s neck. Warren stirs in his sleep before waking up, greeted by Nathan’s kisses. 

“Morning,” Nathan says, giving Warren a quick kiss on the lips.

Warren groans. “What time is it?”

“I wake you up like this and that’s all you say?” Nathan laughs before pulling Warren’s hands to get him to sit up. “C’ mon, we need to pack up. The bus leaves in an hour.”

“Give me five more minutes,” says Warren as he lays back on the bed, pulling Nathan down with him.

They hear a knock at the door and it opens immediately. “Hey guys, breakfast is he-“ Victoria stands there in shock, looking at Nathan on top of Warren and shuts the door immediately. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to walk in on that,” she yells from the outside.

Nathan gets out of the bed and opens the door. “You can relax, Vic. We weren’t having sex. Our clothes are still on.”

“Whatever, just get some damn breakfast.” 

Nathan laughs and walks back into the cabin. He finds Warren with his eyes closed again. “Let’s go, get up.” Nathan pulls on Warren’s arm until he was out of the bed.

The bus arrives on time and the students begin boarding it.

“Warren,” Nathan turns to his boyfriend. “Would you like to sit next to me on the bus?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Nathan takes Warren’s hand as he leads him to the bus.

“Wait a minute,” says Victoria. “Who am I supposed to sit with?” Nathan ignores her question as he continues to lead his new boyfriend to board the bus. “Nathan. Nathan, who’s going to sit with me?”

“I don’t have a bus buddy, Victoria.” Victoria turns around and sees that Max was talking to her.

“Oh, fucking hell.” Victoria crosses her arms the moment she sits on the bus and slumps in her seat next to Max.

Up ahead a few rows, Warren rests his head on Nathan’s shoulder. He looks up at his boyfriend and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

“You know, it’s crazy,” says Warren.

“What is?”

“Us being together. I just never imagined it.”

Nathan puts an arm around Warren’s shoulder. “You might be stuck with me for a while. Maybe it’s time to get used to it.” His kisses the top of Warren’s head then his lips.

“Yeah, I think I already am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re a third of the way through the story! There is so much more in store and there’s a lot that I can’t wait to share will you all.  
> But anyway, it finally happened! I hope it was worth it and makes up for last chapter being a little shorter than usual.  
> This chapter was such a joy to write and I hope you guys enjoyed it as well.


	11. Breathe, Part 2: Love on the Brain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Breathe, Part 2

Nathan pushes his boyfriend against the door in his dorm room, capturing Warren’s lips. 

“You waste no time, huh?” says Warren. “Class just ended, you know.” 

“Stop talking,” Nathan tells him, taking off his jacket and tossing it on the floor. 

He turns him around and pushes Warren onto the bed, climbing on top of him. As Nathan takes his lips again, he feels Warren’s phone vibrating in his pants. 

“Ignore it,” Nathan says as puts his hand under Warren’s shirt. 

Warren takes a peek at his phone. “I can’t. It’s my dad.” He lets go of Nathan and gets off the bed to answer the FaceTime call. “Hi dad.”

“Hey buddy, I figured out what was wrong with the code.” 

“Really? What happened?”

“So you kept receiving the wrong input, right? That’s because you had it as a string and not an integer.”

“For real?” Warren goes to sit on Nathan’s couch. “I can’t believe I’m so stupid for messing up little things.”

“Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself. Everything else looks pretty great. If that’s all you need, I have to get back to-”

“Wait, don’t hang up yet, Dad. I have a couple of other things I need to look over with you.” 

‘I’ll be right back.’ Warren mouths to Nathan before leaving the room.

Nathan stares at the door Warren just closed in disbelief. Knowing it might take a while for Warren to come back, he heads to his desk to finish editing photos to submit for his college portfolio. A month into the relationship with the boy and he already learned a couple of new things about him. One is always answering the phone whenever his parents called even if they were in the middle of a heated kiss. The other thing he learned about Warren was that he enjoyed being touchy with him and giving random kisses. It surprised him how affectionate Warren was. 

Whenever Warren was working late on his project, Nathan would come in his room occasionally to check up on him and give a caffeine refill, of course cutting him off when he’s had too much, even if it meant arguing with his boyfriend about how bad too much caffeine is for his body.

“Because you’ve already had four cups and I don’t want you to get a heart attack and die!” Nathan remembers telling Warren one night.

It wasn’t like they got into fights often; it was only when Warren couldn’t get his fix of caffeine or Nathan not seeing his therapist. 

“You can’t skip this week, you already skipped last week,” Warren says to him the night they were having dinner at Two Whales. “Are you even sure seeing Dr. Bill is enough? You haven’t had any cravings for drugs or anything, right?”

“Warren, stop,” Nathan says to him.

“I’m being serious, Nate. Sometimes you have these mood swings and I think you should really take up that group therapy session.”

“You’re starting to fucking sound a lot like Dr. Bill now.”

“I’m just saying, you reall-“ 

“I don’t need you to lecture me about this right now,” Nathan raises his voice, attracting the attention of other patrons. Noticing the new audience, he lowers his head and lowers his voice. “I just want to enjoy my meal tonight with my boyfriend, stress-free.” 

“I can’t just ignore it when you start skipping your appointments more frequently. And if you’re using me as an excuse to run away from it, I don’t want any part of that.” 

Nathan wipes his mouth with a napkin and throws it on his plate. “I lost my appetite.” He gets up from the booth and throws a few bills on the table before walking out.

He remembers Warren following him out the diner to kiss him and apologize. Nathan even ended up going to his therapy appointment, not wanting to cause another scene or get into another fight with him. 

Nathan hears the door open from behind and assuming it was his boyfriend, he doesn’t look back to check. 

“Bye, Dad. Love you too,” he hears Warren say. Nathan then feels a pair of arms wrapping around his chest from behind the chair. “What are you working on?”

“Just making some last minute edits for some photos for my portfolio. I’m almost ready to submit my application today.” Nathan turns his head to give Warren a kiss. “You know, I can’t believe you just did that to me.” 

“Did what?”

“Answer your phone and leave the room right when we were in the middle of making out. You always do that.”

“I’m sorry.” Warren leans in to give Nathan a kiss. “Does that make up for it?” Nathan shakes his head and Warren gives him another kiss. “How about now?”

“Still no.” 

Warren goes around the chair to sit on Nathan’s lap. He gives his boyfriend a deep kiss, slipping his tongue into Nathan’s mouth. “Now?” Nathan doesn’t respond. Warren begins to prop kisses on his cheek, going down to his neck. He pops off a few buttons on Nathan’s shirt, exposing part of his chest. 

“Okay, okay, I forgive you.” Nathan laughs. “But only if you promise not to pick up your phone whenever your parents call and we’re doing something intimate.”

“I promise.” Warren's eyes shift from Nathan to the monitor. “That’s beautiful,” he says, referring to the photo of the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring that Nathan’s editing. His eyes wander onto Nathan’s desktop and he spots an unusual folder. “Why does that one have my name on it?” he asks as he points to it.

“It’s nothing.” Nathan full screens the photo application, hiding the desktop.

“No, no, go back.” Warren tries to use the wireless mouse but Nathan takes it away from him. “Just let me it see,” he says as he stretches his arms out for the mouse.

Nathan presses his hand against Warren’s head, preventing him from reaching the mouse. “I’m not letting you see it.” 

Warren climbs on top of Nathan until the chair tips over, crashing them both to the floor. With an opening, Warren grabs the mouse and gets back up to the desk to open the folder. He later feels overwhelmed by the number of photos of just him. Ones even before they got close to one another. 

“Did you stalk me?” Warren asks with a smile on his face.

“Put that smile away before I do it myself and no, I didn’t stalk you.”

“Why do you have a photo of me and Max sitting at a table? Seems like a pretty stalker-ish photo to me.”

“Shut up.” Nathan takes the mouse from him and deletes the folder. 

Warren gasps. “Why’d you do that for? I didn’t get to see the photo of me in the shower,” Warren teases.

“I don’t have a photo of you in the shower because I didn’t stalk you.”

“Not that I know of but you deleted the folder so I’ll never know.” Warren puts a pout on his face.

Nathan rolls his eyes at him and restores the folder from the trash can. “If you want to look through the rest of it, fine by me.” He backs away from the computer and Warren cheers like a little kid. 

He watches Warren go through the photos with anxiety. He didn’t have any dirty pictures of Warren despite what the boy suggested but he was more worried about the reception he was going to get. 

“These are cute,” Warren says, smiling as he clicks to the next photo and the next. 

“Narcissistic, I see.” 

“I’m talking about the photos, not me.”

“I’m just fucking with you, babe. Can I have my computer back now? I kind of have to submit an application.” 

Warren gets off the chair and wraps his arms around Nathan’s neck giving him a kiss. “Maybe I’ll send you some dirty ones for you to put in there.” He pats Nathan on the cheek before giving him another kiss.

“Whatthefuckever,” Nathan says, getting out of Warren’s embrace and sitting back in his chair.

Warren stretches his arms out as he walks towards Nathan’s closet and opens it. “I have to get to work in an hour.”

“And that allows you to look through my closet, why?”

“Because we’re boyfriends and the same size, and I feel like we should share our clothes.”

“No, thanks. I don’t want to wear your clothes.”

“But I want to wear yours. You’ve got some fancy stuff in here.” Warren says, pulling out a black leather jacket. “LV?”

“It was a birthday gift from my mom last year.”

Warren tries on the jacket and grabs a pair of shades from the closet. “I look like I can run a gang, right? Maybe a biker gang?”

“More like a geeky robotics gang.”

“Even better.”

“I thought you said you needed to get to work.”

“In an hour, I’ve still got plenty of time,” Warren says and he put the jacket and sunglasses back.

“Do you want a ride?” 

“What for? I’ve got my own car.”

“I know that but do you really trust that thing? I don’t want to get a call saying you crashed into a building because your brakes stopped working on that old ass car.”

“Okay, I get it, Dad. My car is functioning well, thank you very much.” Warren feels a slight vibration in his pants. It was a text from Max. “Oh that’s right, I have to return a book to Max.” Warren bends down to give Nathan a quick kiss. “I’ll stop by after work later tonight.” He gives him one last kiss. 

When Warren leaves the room, Nathan turns his attention back to his work. If he’s able to get into the School of Visual Arts, fantastic. It was the next step that bugged him. How would he pay for art school without the help of his father?

Nathan opens the application to add some of his photographs. His eyes wander back down to the folder labeled ‘Warren.’ He was almost tempted to rename it to ‘Douchebag’ after what Warren did just to see the photos. Nathan opens the folder and drags the first image to the application, the first photo he took of Warren, sitting at a table outside Blackwell with Max.

Just for a second, his anxiety gets to him as he self-doubts his own work. If it’s good enough for the school or if they’ll think it’s all pure utter shit. It made him even more anxious when Warren told him last week that he’d been rejected from Harvard and waitlisted by MIT. The only school that he hasn’t heard back from in his top three is Columbia University. 

“What if I don’t get into Columbia either?” Warren asked him the night he found out MIT waitlisted him. He and Nathan were laying on the latter’s bed, both staring up at the ceiling at opposite ends of each other. 

“You’re going to get in, I’m sure of it,” Nathan reassures him.

“Aren’t you worried about being rejected by SVA?”

“Terrified.”

Warren grabs Nathan’s hand and gives it a light squeeze. “It’s almost over.”

Even just by holding his hand, Nathan felt at ease.

“Finally,” Nathan says to himself quietly as he presses the submit button. He stretches his arms above his head, relieving the tension and stress from his body.

Nathan looks at the time and realizes that an hour had already passed. Part of him now wants to visit Warren at work but the other half doesn’t want to appear too clingy. Nathan opens one of the drawers in his desk, revealing two tickets he bought a couple of days back. Fuck it. He didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day. He grabs the pair of tickets from his desk and puts on his jacket from the floor before heading out.

~~~

“Thank you, have a nice evening,” Warren says as he hands the customer the plastic bag. He didn’t mind working part-time at a small convenience store downtown for a few nights a week. For the most part, it was relatively slow since Arcadia bay was such a small town. It gave him some down time to get homework done or text Nathan when he was bored. Sometimes the owner isn’t even there and leaves it up to Warren to lock the doors at night.

Just as the last customer in the store leaves, Warren gets a text from Nathan telling him to look up. As Warren does just that, Nathan comes walking through the doors.

“Hey,” Nathan gives his boyfriend a quick kiss over the counter. “Guess who has two tickets for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry plus the planetarium.” Nathan pulls out the two tickets from his back pocket.

“No way.” Warren takes the tickets from Nathan. “I’ve been dying to go lately.” 

“Yeah, I know you eat that kind of shit up.” Nathan turns his back to the counter, leaning on it with his elbows. “You’re not doing anything tomorrow, right?” Warren shakes his head. “Good. Then tomorrow will just be all about us.” Nathan looks to the side and sees a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. “Can I take this?” Nathan asks as he grabs a bag of chips.

“No.”

“Your boss isn’t even here so it doesn’t matter.” He explains, slowly inching towards the door. 

“No.”

“I’m taking it.”

“Nathan, you can’t,” Warren says without making an effort to stop him.

“Bye.” Nathan rushes out the door. Through the window, Warren sees his boyfriend blowing him a kiss, then giving him the finger, raising up the bag of chips. Warren smiles and laughs, shaking his head as he turns his attention back to his phone.

~~~

“Man, I haven’t been here in ages.” Nathan reveals as they walk into the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland. “The last time I can remember was a field trip back in elementary school.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that trip. You were an ass back then too, making me trip on purpose.”

Nathan laughs. “Did I? I don’t even recall that at all.” Nathan sticks out his foot in front of Warren.

“You’re not funny if you think that’s going to work again,” Warren tells him, evading his foot.

Entering the exhibit hall, they walk by the Science Playground which only brings nostalgic memories to Warren. 

“I remember spending hours in that playground when I was tiny and my parents would have to bribe me to get me out,” he explains.

“Bride you how?”

“By buying me a science kit from the gift shops.”

Nathan chuckles. “You’re too easy."

After looking at a few exhibits around the museum and following Warren to whatever he wanted to see, Nathan decides to pull his boyfriend into a corner where no one could see them. He begins kissing Warren and trails kisses down his neck.

“Not now, Nathan.” Warren pushes him aside and goes back into the open. “I still want to see the rest of the place.”

“You’re no fun, you hear that right?” Nathan says, trailing behind him.

The two end up in a small open auditorium where families gathered around to watch a live animation presentation. Nathan and Warren take their seats in the back and a scientist on stage brings out a porcupine.

“I’m about to get the fuck out of here.” Nathan begins to stand up only to be dragged down by Warren.

“Stay. I want to watch this.” 

Nathan crosses his arms as he sits back down. “I didn’t sign up for an acupuncture appointment today.” 

“Oh stop. It’s not going to hurt you.”

“You don’t know how far its projectile is.”

After the presenter finishes explain information about the porcupine and answering questions, she brings out a small alligator onto the stage.

“Okay, it’s time to leave. We’re going to be late for our showing for the planetarium.” Nathan pulls Warren up from his seat, dragging him out of the room and ignoring Warren’s complaining about wanting to stay again.

“What are you so scared of? You weren’t like this when you chased down that mythical creature last month,” Warren says as they take their seats in the planetarium. 

“This is different, Warren. A jackalope is literally like a bunny.”

“I feel like I’m going to have to bring you to a petting zoo one day.” 

“Shut up. Those animals aren’t scary. They don’t have sharp, pointy things in or outside their bodies.” The lights in the planetarium go dim. 

“I’m only teasing.” Warren kisses Nathan on the cheek before settling his head on the boy’s shoulder as the show begins.

Nathan looks over to his boyfriend before intertwining their fingers together. The show Nathan chose talked about the night sky. The constellations, planets, satellites, shooting stars, whatever was visible in the sky. The whole dome above them is populated with white, shining dots.

“Are you going to start teaching me how to find a constellation in the sky anytime soon?” Warren whispers to him and Nathan smiles.

“Only if you do the same.” 

Nathan brings his focus back to the dome above, being mesmerized by the projection of all the planets and stars. If there’s one thing he’s glad about gaining a new interest in thanks to Warren, it would surely be this.

By the time they left the museum, the sun had already set. Not wanting the date to be over so soon, the couple takes a stroll around a nearby park.

“Hey, remember the scene from La La Land where Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling were in the planetarium, dancing around in the air like they were in space? I’d be lying if I said I wish that wouldn’t happen to us when we were in the planetarium.”

“I thought Nathan Prescott never dances.”

“And you’ll never get to see it either.” Nathan tells him. “I’ve been meaning to ask, what do your parents think, you know, about us? You told them, right?”

“They like you. They like you a lot. My mom even said she can’t wait for you to visit again.” Nathan lets out a smile. “When do I get to meet your parents? You never talk about them that much, not even your sister.”

Nathan tries to avoid any conversation about his parents but he knew Warren asking about them was inevitable. 

“My relationship with them is a little bit… complicated.” Nathan takes a seat in front of a fountain and pulls Warren to sit next to him. “My parents aren’t exactly the nicest people in the world. I don’t think I even need to explain anything considering my family’s reputation in the town. They’re not like your family, Warren. I was never really close to them or openly shared with them anything about my life. Maybe when I was five I might have but that was a long time ago.” 

“What about your sister?”

“Brazil, remember?” Nathan dips his hand into the fountain, feeling the cold water against his hand. “She doesn’t email that much anymore. The last time I can remember was after Frank’s funeral. But with my half-assed replies, I don’t blame her."

Warren puts his hand on Nathan’s lap. “You should email her again.”

Nathan shakes his head. “I don’t even know what I would write to her. There’s so much I want to say but at the same time, I can’t seem to type any of it out. I mean I tried to write once and I did but it was basically nothing. Just a lengthy email of me ranting about her leave Arcadia Bay.”

“Well, maybe you should try to start out small. You know just tell her what’s going on in your life right now without going into too much detail. Just leave all the ‘f you’ out of it.”

“I don’t know. Seems kind of hard.”

“Just try to think about the happy memories you two had together and repress all those angry thoughts, just for now.”

“And then explode like a volcano later? That sounds fun.”

“Baby steps. Just to help you communicate with her again.”

“Whatever.” Nathan looks down at the fountain then back to Warren. “Hey, you’ve got something on your face?”

“Huh?” Warren looks at him confused until Nathan splashes the cold fountain water on his face.

“Fuck you and all the times you’ve done that to me.” Nathan laughs after seeing the shocked face on Warren.

“Okay, I get it. I was a dick around water. Let’s get back to the dorms now.” 

Just as Nathan stands up, Warren splashes some of the water on him. “Do that one more time and you’re walking all the way to Arcadia Bay by yourself.”

~~~

After parting ways with Warren in the dorm halls of Blackwell, Nathan sits in front of the computer thinking about what Warren told him about emailing Kristine against.

_Hey Kristine,_

Nathan pauses, still unsure of what to write. He thinks about the time they spent together as kids and how she had been his guardian against their father. Introducing him to the arts. He realizes he doesn’t want to lose that with her. 

_I know it’s been a while since we last spoke and my half-assed emails don’t help either but I just wanted to let you know that I met someone. Someone who actually makes me happy and alive. Someone, I think you’d really like if you met him. I hope everything’s well in Brazil. I miss you._

_Nate._

Nathan looks over the email a few times. It was short and vague but to him, that was a big leap compared to what he used to write to her. After a moment of hesitation, he presses send before going to lay flat on his bed. Nathan pulls out his phone to FaceTime Warren.

“Hey, what’s up?” Warren says through the screen. To Nathan’s surprise, he was already in bed instead of working.

“I just wanted to say goodnight one last time.”

“Goodnight.” Warren puckers his lips, pretending to give him a kiss through the screen. 

“Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.” Nathan laughs and hangs up. He set his phone to the side and plays the whale music on the speaker, sending himself to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off I want to thank all of you for getting this fic to 100 kudos. Wow! I honestly didn't even think I would reach that many so thank you everyone!  
> It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I've been a little bit busy lately so that's why there hasn't been an update in a month but I'm trying to write more.
> 
> But anyway, welcome to Part 2 of Breathe! What’s in store for Part 2? (Chapters 11 -20)  
> Warren and Nathan exploring their relationship with each other. We’ll see a lot more of Nathan’s family and more of Warren’s family. There’s even going to be a cameo from Life is Strange 2 later on. But that’s all I’m going to say for now.  
> Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!


	12. Strangers in the Night

Nathan sits in his father’s office at Prescott Foundations across a vacant chair and a gold engraved desk name plate that says ‘Sean Prescott.’ He sits with his legs crossed and his foot shakes as he anxiously refreshes the email app on his phone. Kristine has yet to reply to his message. He thinks it’s most likely because she’s somewhere without an internet connection but the paranoid side of him thinks she’s ignoring him as he did to her emails.

His thumb hovers over the ‘compose new message’ button contemplating if he should email again or if it’ll come off as needy. Kristine always came to his defense whenever their parents would yell at him about something but there were also times when she would scream at him about needing space. It didn’t happen often but Nathan decided that it was probably best that he didn’t lean on his sister all the time and defend himself.

Nathan just turns his phone off for a second, only to unlock it again and refresh his email. His heart jumps when he sees a new notification, only for it to be spam mail from an online store. He sighs in disappointment but there’s no surprise she still hasn’t gotten back to him.

Nathan hears the door open from behind. “Good. Glad to see you’re here,” his father says with a monotone voice. Sean walks around him and sits at his desk. “Pan Estates is opening soon and we’re hosting a gala in celebration. There’s going to be a rehearsal in two days and I need you to be there.” 

_Shit._ Nathan thought to himself. It was on the same day as Warren’s science fair. Part of him wishes his father told him ahead of time, but rarely he does.

“We’re going to practice greeting all the guests and I’ll tell you everything you need to say.”

“I can’t. I have class that day,” he says, trying to come up with an excuse that probably wasn’t going to work.

“Nice try, but it’s on a Saturday. I need you to be there.”

Nathan sighs in defeat. “Fine.” 

Sean looks at his son for a moment before turning his attention to his computer screen. “You should come home for dinner tonight,” he says as he types out an email.

Nathan’s body goes rigid after remembering what happened the last time he came home to have dinner months ago. He also can’t believe how calmly his father said it as If nothing ever happened between them.

“I have to help out a friend with his science fair project, I can’t.”

His father stops typing and turns his attention back to him. “What friend?” 

“You don’t know him.”

“If he’s part of the science fair, I hope he’s a good influence on you. Not like those other duds you like to hang out with.” Nathan was only slightly offended. “Which reminds me, I’ve already submitted your application to Stanford. Your grades are absolute shit of course so it’s been altered.” 

It’s times like these Nathan just wants to jump out of his chair and strangle his father. 

“I used to be part of their board of trustees. You’ll get in. Don’t disappoint me and do _not_ embarrass me. Do you understand?” Nathan stays silent as his breathing goes heavy. “Did you hear me?” Sean says, raising his voice. “I said ‘Do you understand?’”

“Yes,” Nathan says, through his gritting teeth.

~~~

“I seriously want to punch him in the fucking face sometimes,” Nathan reveals to Rachel inside a newly opened cafe in Arcadia Bay. He was supposed to wait here for Victoria but he called up Rachel last minute to vent. Nathan liked that her father and his were friends since they would always bond over how frustrating they can both be at times. “I can’t believe he submitted a fake transcript to Stanford and then is making me do the stupid rehearsal. He just irritates me so much.” He slams his coffee cup on the table.

“I think your father just wants the best for you,” Rachel tells him.

“Why are you taking his side? You’ve seen firsthand how much of a dick he is.”

“I’m not taking his side. I thought you wanted to go to Stanford anyway?”

“Like freshmen year, but that was only because it’s been ingrained in my fucking head by my family.”

“Right. Sorry. I forgot you want to go to that art school in New York.” She takes a sip of her coffee. “By the way, how’s everything with you and Warren?”

“Everything’s fine. He’s just stressing over his science fair. I don’t think he’s slept in days.”

“We should have a double date sometime. You and Warren with Chloe and I. It’ll be so much fun. We could go rollerskating or whatever you want. Maybe Max could even be our fifth wheel. Or Victoria could come with her and make a triple date.” Rachel gives him a wink.

Nathan furrows his brows in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Besides, a double date? With Chloe? I’ll pass,” he says nonchalantly, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Oh come on, she’s not that bad.”

“That’s a very biased opinion right there.” Rachel pouts her face at him, hoping it’ll convince him to change his mind. “Okay, I’ll see if there’s any room on my schedule.”

“Perfect.”

“Wow, this place is so artsy and so aesthetic. Love it,” says Victoria, coming up to the table with a coffee and a pastry in her hands. She looks to Rache,l then to Nathan. “Oh, I didn’t realize you invited another guest.”

“Sorry, I kind of invited her last minute,” Nathan tells her.

Rachel picks her cup off the table before standing up. “Don’t worry, I was just heading out. I’ll see you two in class tomorrow.” 

Victoria looks at her weirdly as she leaves before taking the seat Rachel was sitting in.

“What’s with that look on her face?” Nathans asks. “I don’t get why you hate her so much.”

“I don’t hate her. I just see her as competition for whoever rules over Blackwell.”

Nathan almost snorts his coffee out. Ever since he and Warren got together, he never really cared for such things anymore. Some might argue even before. “We’re going to be graduating soon. Maybe you should put whatever you have against her behind you and just be friends.”

“It’s not my fault she’s such an attention whore.” 

“I should just lock you two in a room until you guys make up whatever rivalry you think you have. I don’t even think Rachel knows she’s part of this so-called ‘competition.’”

“Whatever.” Victoria crosses her arms and looks away before immediately turning back to Nathan. “It’s just you and her have been spending a lot of time together lately and I just miss my friend.”

“You think she’s replacing you?” Victoria doesn’t reply and Nathan laughs. She rolls her eyes. “Why don’t we do something together sometime? Just the two of us. No Warren and no Rachel. Just like the good old days.” 

Victoria’s lips form into a genuine smile. With Warren in the picture, she was worried about losing her best friend to someone who didn’t know him as long as she had. 

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

~~~

“I don’t get it,” Nathan says, flipping through one of Warren’s comic books as he sits on his boyfriend’s bed. “Why do people in the comics hate mutants but not people like the Avengers?”

Warren turns around in his chair and thinks for a moment. “It’s probably because a lot of the Avengers got their powers through an accident or use science and technology while people in the X-Men have the X-gene in them so it’s biological. People are probably afraid of change and being replaced by them.” 

A notification sound comes from his laptop and Warren turns his chair back around. “IT’S DONE!” he screams in excitement. 

Warren picks up his tablet, opening up his app. He snaps a photo of a mug on his desk. After a few minutes of waiting, it tells him the materials that make up the object. Not long after, the app crashes and groans. To Nathan, it almost sounded like a whale was in the room. 

“This thing takes so long to analyze things and it’s crashing again.” Warren groans again, this time softer. He puts his elbows on his desk to hide his face in his hands.

Nathan watches his boyfriend suffer internally before setting the comic book down and walking over to him. He puts a hand to his back and slowly rubs it as comfort. “It’s all right.”

Warren pulls his face away from his hands. “No, it isn’t. This is a disaster.”

Nathan puts his arm around Warren’s shoulder and Warren leans into his touch. “Take a break.”

Warren looks up at his boyfriend. “I can’t.”

“Just take one night off. Please? I know the science fair is in just a couple of days but you’ve been working non-stop for the past week. It is so wrong to just have one night off from things?”

“I can’t afford one night off when the deadline is this close and my app isn’t anywhere near as good as I want it to be.”

“At least it does what you want it to do.”

Warren smiles at him. “Since when were you so optimistic? Last time I checked, you were the opposite.”

“So what do you say?”

Warren sighs deeply before giving in. “Okay. I’ll take this thing you call a ‘break.’ But only for fifteen minutes. Nothing longer.” 

“Yeah, I know it’s not in your vocabulary.”

~~~

Nathan unlocks the door to the roof with a paperclip from his pocket. He stretches his arms out, yawning, as he walks out onto the roof with Warren following behind him. At the edge of the roof, Nathan rests both his arms on the ledge to look up at the night sky. Warren then wraps an arm around the brown-haired boy’s shoulder.

“Gemini always looks funny to me,” says Nathan. “They’re just two stick figures, holding hands in the sky.” 

Warren looks at him in shock and chuckles. “So you finally learned how to find them yourself? I’m only slightly disappointed.”

“Why? Because you can’t hold my hand and point them out for me?”

“Excuse me, sir. I can’t seem to find where Gemini is. Do you think you can show me?”

“I’m not doing that shit, Warren,” Nathan says to his boyfriend with a straight face.

“Damn. Now I feel betrayed.” 

Warren goes to rest his head on Nathan’s shoulder as they look at the stars together. They bask in the silence for a while before an idea sparks in Nathan’s head.

“Hey,” he says turning around leaving Warren’s embrace. He lets his hand out and Warren looks at it in confusion. 

“What?”

“Just take my hand.”

Warren does as he’s told and Nathan tells him to put his other hand around his neck. He then feels Nathan putting his hand on his arm. The two being to sway slowly. 

“Are we dancing?” Warren asks as he and Nathan begin to slowly sway around. “I thought Nathan Prescott doesn’t dance.”

“I don’t. But for a certain someone, I do.” 

They continue to sway in the silence as they look at each other. The only thing they could hear were the faint sounds of crickets from the nearby forest. Nathan could see the dark circles under the boy’s eyes clearly. The redness in his eyes could tell Nathan that he’d be working for hours upon hours just getting his code as perfect as it could be. 

Warren looks into Nathan’s eyes and he sees someone who’s hiding something deep within him. Like it was something he’s ashamed to share. He only wonders what it was.

“You know what we need?” Nathan says, breaking the silence. “Some music.” He takes out his phone and picks a playlist. He then slips the phone into his back pocket. 

“You really love Frank Sinatra now, don’t you?” Warren comments on Nathan’s choice, joining their hands together to continue their dance.

“Hey, you were the one you got me into him.”

Warren lays his head on Nathan’s shoulder, smiling. “I love this song,” he says softly and then hums along.

Nathan contemplates about telling Warren of the gala rehearsal but he didn’t want to give the boy more worries on top of what he already has.

Warren lifts his head and sees a worried look that formed on Nathan’s face. “What is it?” he asks. 

“Nothing. It’s just that the fifteen-minute break is up and I didn’t want this to end.”

“Five more minutes won’t hurt. Would it?”

“I’m not hearing things, am I?” 

Warren laughs and kisses him for a moment. “Just for a little bit longer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be on Nathan's birthday next Thursday! I can't miss that day haha.  
> Also, I recently made a Tumblr! You can check it out at kaioticen.tumblr.com  
> Right now there's a list of songs that each chapter was inspired by. There's a post and a page for it that will be updated with each chapter.  
> I'll also be posting excerpts from future chapters and you guys can ask me questions about anything haha.  
> Thanks for reading this update!


	13. All For Us

Nathan checks his phone as he sits on the edge of a stage inside the venue where the gala will be held. He swings both legs back and forth as he sees that Kristine still hasn’t gotten back to him yet. The staff is busy scurrying around, setting up all the tables for the Pan Estates Gala tomorrow. Tables are being decorated with silk tablecloths while chairs are being brought out of storage. One staff member is dusting off the chandelier that stood above the dance floor. Nathan absolutely hates the venue. It’s not like he hadn’t been here a million times before. Every wedding and every special event he had to go to in Arcadia Bay was always held here and he was honestly getting tired of it. Especially since everything here brings nothing but bad memories for him. 

When he was in kindergarten, his father’s employee had a wedding here. Nathan remembers just wanting more cake, but something or someone must have pissed his dad that night because he only recalls being yelled at by him afterward. Like he was taking out his anger on him. When he thought no one was watching, he ran outside to be alone only to be accompanied by his sister who came out with a piece of cake. 

There was a girl who used to go to Blackwell until she moved away. Samantha Myers was her name and she had shown him affection that no one really showed to him before. It was during a time when people would constantly pick on him for being the rich kid. It was no secret that they had a mutual attraction to each other. Rachel had her sweet sixteen at the venue and on the day of her party, Nathan asked Samantha to come as his date. While they were on the dance floor, he had a little too much to drink and threw up all over her dress. He was wasted as fuck that night but Nathan could never forget the moment everyone stopped dancing to point and laugh at him. He doesn’t remember how Samantha reaction because he was too ashamed to even look at her. Nathan refused to dance ever since until he did it with Warren. 

Nathan was just thankful that the rehearsal was this morning and the science fair is in the afternoon. He wouldn’t want to disappoint Warren by not being there when he’s been working his ass off since the beginning of the year. Nathan didn’t tell him where he was this morning to not let him worry before his presentation in front of the judges. If he was going to be honest, he didn’t like talking about anything related to his family with Warren. He was his escape from that world. Though, Nathan’s mostly afraid of Warren finding out about certain things that he’d rather keep to himself. 

He texts Warren a good morning and a good luck message with his boyfriend replying with a ‘Thank you’ and a heart kissing emoji back; making Nathan smile. 

“Nathan put away your phone.” His thoughts get interrupted when he sees his father approaching him. “And get down from there. I need you to take this seriously.” Nathan sighs before jumping off the stage. He slouches his shoulders as he looks at his dad. “Back straight. Chin up.” Sean physically adjusts his son’s posture. “How many times do I have to tell you this, boy?” He could hear his dad audibly sigh. “Come with me.” 

His father brings him to the entrance of the venue. “Here you will greet all of the guests and hand each of them a flower pin.”

“Shouldn’t that be someone else’s job,” Nathan says to himself. He looks up to his father giving him a stern look. “I was just joking,” he says quietly, looking away.

“Your attitude is very annoying, do you know that? Do you even realize how important this event is? I have stockholders coming and potential business partners. I don’t need you messing any of this up because of the little issues you have.” Nathan doesn’t look back at his dad. 

Nathan hated that every time he would see his dad, they would always end up in a fight with each other. Even if he didn’t intentionally mean to start it. 

“Sorry,” he says to him. 

Sean gives a doubtful look at his son before resuming. “Later in the evening you will be giving a short speech and introducing me. It’s already been written for you. All you have to do is memorize it. My assistant will email it to you later today. At the end of the day, you’ll be handing out gift bags to each guest. Do not miss one person or I’ll be receiving a very petty email the next morning like last time.”

His father walks over to sit at the nearest table and Nathan follows suit. “Now, some people might approach you knowing you’re the Prescott heir and they’re likely to ask about me.”

Nathan scoffs and his father notices it once again. 

“What it is? Do you think this is all just for fun? Do you ever take anything seriously?” 

“Of course, Dad, I do–“

“I’m not very convinced,” he says with a grim look on his face. “One more step out of line and you might just end up like your sister.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” 

Nathan could see the rage filling in his father’s eyes. The staff members around watch as Sean grabs his son’s wrists and drags him to a room in the back and slams the door shut.

“Can’t you do something fucking right just for once?!” Sean screams out.

It was rare for Nathan to hear his father raise his voice like that. Every time he scolds him, it was always with a stern, aggressive voice but this time it was different. 

“Everything that I’ve done. Everything that I’ve done for the company. I did it all for you.”

“Bullshit.” 

The moment after Nathan said that he could feel a sting across his left cheek as residue from his father’s slap.

“I thought I taught you better,” his father says to him softly. 

Nathan’s eyes begin to well up with tears and he tries to quickly blink them away, failing to do so as one begins to fall from his eye. Somehow, he thinks he could never win with his father. Not as long as he’s tied to the family. 

“Don’t you realize how privileged you are? If you want to end up like Kristine I’ll–“

He stops when there’s a sound of knocking at the door. It slowly creaks open and a staff member pops her head in the room. She looks to both Nathan and Sean before clearing her voice. “Excuse me, Sir, James Amber is here to visit you.”

“Tell him I’ll be there in a minute. I’m just talking to my son,” Sean says without taking his eyes off Nathan.

“Very well.”

“I’ll give you one more chance. Do not disappoint me, boy.” His father adjusts his suit before walking out of the room. 

As soon as his father leaves, his legs give in and he kneels on the ground. The tears begin to freely flow out of Nathan’s eyes and his breathing becomes heavier. He wipes his tears away and brings his head up and looks around the room. In the corner, he sees a rack full of wine bottles, most likely expensive ones.

The temptation is too strong. Every time he had an interaction with his dad, he always needed a way to relieve the stress. Nowadays it was Warren but the closest thing to him right now was that beautiful looking bottle of wine and he wasn’t sure what to do anymore. His mind boggles up with confusion. He wants to stay sober but now, he doesn’t know how to deal with this without getting drunk or high.

“Fuck this shit,” he says and without thinking twice, he snags the bottle before heading out.

~~~

Warren stands in front of a full-length mirror in his dorm room trying to put on his tie, failing multiple times. The suit he put on was getting a little tight from him but he figures it’s doable for the science fair. He even applied some gel and slick back his hair for today.

His feelings today were far beyond euphoria if that was even possible. His app was up and running the way he wanted it to do, he’ll admit that it can be laggy at times, but he was just ecstatic that it functions normally. 

Warren lets out a frustrating grunt as he realizes he’s in a losing battle with his tie. He hears the door open behind him and assumes it was Nathan.

“Wow. Who is that handsome young man?” says a different but recognizable voice to Warren. He turns his head to the source of the voice and sees his father standing at the doorway.

“Dad!” Warren rushes over to his father, bringing him into an embrace. “What are you doing here?”

“After all those nights that you would call me at ungodly hours, you didn’t think I would miss this, did you?” Teddy looks down at Warren’s failed attempt at tying a tie. “Still need help with that?”

“Please?” 

Teddy chuckles and drapes the tie around his son’s collar. “How’s Nathan doing?” he asks as he begins to knot the tie. 

“Oh, you know the usual. Taking pictures as always.”

“Is he here right now?”

“He’s probably in his dorm room. I don’t actually know. I’ve been too busy preparing.”

“He should come and visit again soon. He hasn’t seen all of Seattle yet.”

“Yeah, he told me he wants to go back again.”

Teddy finishes up tying the knot on his son’s tie. “There we go. Handsome just as ever.”

“That bathroom you have here is a goddamn mess,” Warren’s grandfather says, walking into the room with his cane. “A year or two in the military should shape these gentlemen right up.”

“You’re here too grandpa? Where’s mom?”

“Your mother’s stuck at the hospital,” Teddy tells him. “She had to take care of an emergency that came up last minute but she sends her love and support.” He watches his son struggle carrying his presentation board, props, and tablet. “Speaking of support, looks like you need some right now.” 

Teddy grabs a small container to put the props in. There was an iPhone, a glass cup, a rubber ball, and a flash drive. 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

“You can thank me by showing me that amazing app you made. Test it out one last time and take a photo of me.”

Warren sets his presentation board down on his bed and opens up his app and takes a photo of his father who decides to make a funny face. “It’s ninety-nine point eight percent sure you’re human. Sixty-five percent oxygen, eighteen point five percent carbon, nine point five percent hydrogen, three-point two percent nitrogen and a bunch of other things.” Warren grins widely, looking at the data. He could cry if he wanted to after how beautifully it worked.

They arrive at the gymnasium where many other students were setting up their own stations. Warren walks through, watching people test out their own science projects. He would be lying if his confidence didn’t go down after seeing what everyone else did.

Teddy walks behind looking around at the whole school. “This school hasn’t changed at all. Even the gym has the same nasty smell when I went here.”

Warren drops his stuff off on one of the cloth tables that has his name on it. 

“Teddy Park?” Warren turns and sees Ms. Grant greet his dad. “Oh my God, it’s been years, hasn’t it?”

“It’s great to see you again, Michelle.”

“Principal Wells,” Ms. Grant calls out. “Look who came to visit.”

“Teddy!” Principal Wells pulls him into a quick embrace. “How’s Seattle treating you?”

“Seattle is Seattle but Arcadia Bay will always be my home.” Teddy looks at the two of them. “Look at this. It’s like a mini high school reunion.”

“Dad,” Warren says. “Go ahead and catch up with your old high school pals. I can set up myself.”

“You sure?” Warren nods.

He watches his dad and grandpa walk off with Ms. Grant and Principal Wells. 

“Let me tell you this, Warren is such a joy to have in class. A star student in fact.” Warren hears Ms. Grant praise about him to his dad as they walk away.

After setting up his table, Warren sees Max, Chloe, and Rachel approaching him. Max holds up the camera to her eye and says “Smile!” 

Warren holds up a peace sign and his tablet next to his presentation board as Max snaps a photo. 

“Wow, look at you, Warren,” says Rachel. “Stunting just like your daddy.” She winks and Warren puts a surprised look on his face, opening his mouth slightly. “I’m joking! Just joking.”

“I heard you made some stupid app,” Chloe says. “Good luck because by the looks of this place, you’ve got some serious competition.”

“Chloe!” Max shouts out. “Don’t listen to her, Warren. You’re going to do amazing.”

At the corner of his eyes, Warren sees Stella walking towards them. Stella Hill was his first girlfriend back when he used to be a freshman at the school. It didn’t work out between them like a lot of high school relationships, but they were able to stay on good terms with each other.

“Hey, Warren.” Stella greets him. “You got that app working well?”

“Yeah. Really well actually.” There was nothing else speaking between them in the silence and all five of the teens could sense the awkwardness.

“Well, best of luck when the judges come. Ms. Grant already told me she thinks my robotic puppy is the cutest thing in the world,” she says before turning around and walking back to her table.

“I never liked that bitch,” Chloe says blatantly.

“Chloe, be nice.” Rachel tells her, “Warren, you’re gonna be amazing. I don’t see anyone else here with a killer app like yours.”

“Thanks, Rachel. I’m actually starting to get a little nervous. I practiced what I was going to say all night and I’m just afraid I’m going to mess up.”

“You’re going to be fine, dude. By the way, where’s Nathan? I haven’t seen him around.”

“I honestly don’t know. I should probably send him a quick message.”

“All right. We’ll see you when it’s your turn to present. We’re gonna check the rest of this place out.” 

Warren waves them goodbye as he pulls out his phone to text Nathan.

~~~

Nathan rests his back against the headboard of the bed in his dorm room as he gobbles down on the wine. The bottle’s almost half empty but he still feels like shit. It’s as if nothing could calm him down on the pressure and the anger he’s feeling from his father.

His heart jumps a bit when he sees an email notification on his phone only to be let down to see that it’s the speech he’s supposed to memorize. Nathan opens it and skims it, scoffing afterward. He isn’t surprised that it was full of nothing but praises about his father and other bullshit about his company.

Nathan turns his head to look at his closet but quickly looks away. He’d probably be crucified if he ever told anyone what he was hiding in there. It’s even more tempting than the wine he stole.

Nathan gets off the bed feeling a little unbalanced. He tries to pace around the room constantly looking back between the closet door and the floor. He closes his eyes and tries to calm himself and his breathing.

“Just count to ten. Just count to ten,” he says quietly to himself. 

He breathes in with his nose and exhales through his mouth. The brown-haired boy could feel himself starting to shake. Nathan brings his fingers to his mouth and beings biting his nails. He knew he should’ve gotten rid of what he was hiding in there a long time ago but now it seems to come in real handy to him.

Nathan doesn’t give it a second thought and forcefully opens the closet door. He gets down on his knees and beings to throw things out of the closet, trying to find what he’s thinking is a treasure to him at this moment. 

He sees a little black box with a tiny padlock in the back corner and grabs it immediately. He struggles to get the padlock unlocked and slams it against the corner of his nightstand, not caring about the damage to either object. 

Nathan pulls out a small bag of white powder and his eyes grow wider with hunger. He quickly lays it out on his nightstand, adjusting it into a straight line. The boy then rolls up an index card and snorts the cocaine, falling to the floor after hitting euphoria once again. 

A small smile begins to form on his lip as a tear drops from one of his eyes. He knows he should feel ashamed of himself but it didn’t matter right now. 

The sound of a text notification came through his phone. Nathan struggles to get on top of his bed to check his phone. His vision was a little blurry but he could see it was a message from Warren asking where he was and if he’s coming to the science fair.

Nathan pauses for a moment to let the message register in his head. “Fuck!” he shouts out.

Nathan slowly gets himself up before rushing out of the dorms. Having his father on his mind all day made him completely forget that he said he was going to be there for Warren. If anyone saw him walking across the campus, they would’ve thought he was probably on something based on the way he’s walking, barely supporting himself up. 

By the time he got to the gym, he sees Warren already presenting in front of the judges, Ms. Grant, Principal Wells, and a couple of people he’s never seen before. He notices Warren’s dad and grandpa watches along with Max, Chloe, and Rachel. 

“This app uses a machine-learning algorithm that pulls images from online to help identity what the object is.” Nathan hears Warren say from a distance and slowly approaches him. “It’s aided by the internet which allows it to give a percentage of probability of what’s in the photo.” Warren takes a photo of the iPhone on his tablet and turns the screen to the audience. “If you take a photo of an iPhone, the app recognizes it’s an iPhone and it pulls the material database from Apple to give an accurate percentage of what the phone is made of.”

The audience in from of him gives him applause, seemingly to believe they were impressed. 

“I’ve noticed the app is a little slow when trying to process all this information,” says one of the judges with a yellow visitor’s pass on their suit. “Can you explain to me what you plan on doing to fix that?”

Nathan pushes through the small crowd. “Nathan?” he hears Rachel faintly say. Once he gets in front of everyone, he sees Warren surprised to see him before quickly resuming his explanation. 

“Listen here,” Nathan says, putting his arm around Warren’s shoulder. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about man.” He tells the man with the visitor’s pass with a slight slur in his speech.

“Nathan, it’s okay. He was just asking a logical question.” Warren says to him quietly. 

“Dude, you don’t know how long he’s been working on this thing for.” Nathan grabs the tablet from Warren’s hands but accidentally drops it, cracking the screen. Everyone around them gasps. 

Nathan puts his hand to his forehead like it was hurting it but he wasn’t finished talking to the man. “If you can’t see how smart this boy is, then fuck you.” He walks backwards, bumping into Warren’s presentation board and falling on top of it, damaging the poster. 

“We are so sorry for all of this,” Rachel apologizes on Nathan’s behalf, dragging him away with Chloe’s help. 

The last thing Nathan remembers seeing is a disappointed and distraught look on his boyfriend’s face.

~~~

Nathan sits on the edge of his bed with his face in his hands just hours after what happened. He couldn’t believe what he just did. Nathan knew how much the science fair meant to his boyfriend and how hard he worked for it and Nathan ruined it for him. Over what? Daddy issues? He was sure it was more complicated than that.

Rachel and Victoria were trying to sober him up while yelling and lecturing him about relapsing. He knows he should be listening to what they’re telling him but his mind won’t stop thinking about what he did to Warren.

Nathan feels something rushing up from his stomach and runs over to his trash can, throwing up whatever he has in his body. He feels Victoria patting his back and hands him a towel to wipe off his mouth. 

“You okay?” Victoria asks in a hushed tone and he nods in response.

He leans on the bottom frame of his bed. “I fucked up.”

“Why did you still have that? I thought you threw it all away.”

Nathan closes his eyes and shakes his head. “I don’t know why I kept it.”

“Do you still have any more?”

“No. That was the last of it all.” He pauses before speaking again. “I really do think he doesn’t want to see me anymore.”

There’s a knock at the door and Rachel goes to open it. “We‘ll let you guys speak alone.” 

Nathan feels a drop in the stomach, knowing whom she was talking to. 

“We’ll be back soon,” Victoria says to him before leaving the room with Rachel.

Nathan stays sitting on the floor, not facing Warren. He doesn’t want to see the look on his face. 

“Can you at least look at me?” He hears Warren ask with a broken voice. 

With reluctance, Nathan stands up and he can feel his own body shaking.

“Nathan, what’s going on?” Nathan stays silent. “Is there something happening?”

“I– no. There isn’t,” he says but Warren knows he’s lying.

Warren opens his mouth to try to speak again but nothing’s coming out. “Nate,” He takes a moment to breathe. “Nathan, I’ve been working on this all year. Spending countless of sleepless nights.”

“I know,” Nathan says quietly. 

“And, and you embarrassed me in front of everyone, and my family was there.”

“I know,” Nathan says again, only slightly louder. 

“I thought you said you were sober. Were you just lying this whole time?”

Nathan snaps his head up. “I wasn’t fucking lying!” he yells at Warren. 

“Then how can you explain all of this?” There was only silence between them. “Nathan, I just want to know why you did it.”

“I don’t know,” he barely whispers out. 

Warren only looks at him disappointed knowing he won’t get the truth. “You know, I knew that you saying you quit wasn’t enough.”

“I still go see Dr. Bill,” he says trying to defend himself. 

“And that clearly wasn’t enough either.” Warren wipes the tears coming down. “I worried sometimes. Thinking about what if you relapsed but I had hope. I wanted to think that you could prove me wrong.” 

“I’m sorry,” Nathan says with a broken voice.

“Me too. I just don’t want what happened to Frank to happen to you, okay?” Warren looks to the floor before looking back at Nathan. “I think we should take a break… from each other,” he says, just barely getting it out.

Nathan starts to shake his head. “We don’t have to do that.”

“Maybe not you, but I do. I just need time to think about everything. Just some time for myself.”

Nathan gulps. “If that’s what you want, then we can take a break.” 

There was an awkwardness between them before Warren starts heading for the door. “I only wish the best for you,” he says before leaving.

Nathan sits on the edge of his bed. He pinches the bridge of his nose and lets the tears stream down his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday, Nathan! :D
> 
> Side note: I’ve created a playlist on both Apple Music and Spotify for the songs that inspired each chapter. A new song will be added for each new chapter.  
> [Apple Music Playlist](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-music-of-breathe/pl.u-5W6lSVgJv4g)  
> [Spotify Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/33x4K6xbaYyv7NdArq5rdJ)  
> [All For Us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-9DOwrLdkg)  
> [My Tumblr](https://kaioticen.tumblr.com)  
> Thank you all for reading and writing such nice comments. It really means a lot.  
> Chapter 14 “Noir” next week!


	14. Noir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I've ever updated this quick before haha.  
> If you haven't read the previous chapter yet, Chapter 13: "All For Us", make sure to read it before this one!

Nathan sits on the edge of his bed, looking over the speech he’s supposed to memorize for the gala tonight. He keeps reading but it was to the point that he was just reading the words. His mind hasn't stopped thinking about the events from yesterday. He wonders what happened after he was taken away. Did Warren win? Did someone else? He’s afraid of what Warren’s dad must think of him or even his grandfather.

Nathan could feel his eyes dropping. He wasn’t able to get any sleep last night, no surprise to him. His mind kept constantly replaying everything from yesterday. From his dad hitting him to Warren telling him he wanted a break. He even had to knock on Hayden Jones, a fellow Vortex Club member who actually liked him, for some weed. It was the only way to numb his mind from all of it. But like everything else, it didn’t last forever.

Earlier in the day, one of his father’s assistants dropped off the suit he’s now currently wearing. He wasn’t exactly the nicest or friendliest that morning, probably scaring off the poor assistant. Nathan knew they were coming. He opened the door with the most horrific look like he had just murdered someone. He snatched the suit out of their hand and slammed the door on them with the noise echoing in the halls. He didn’t give a shit. Nathan hated anyone who had any relation to his father and the company.

Just as he was lost in thought, his phone vibrates. His heart jumps when he sees that it’s an email notification from his sister and opens it almost immediately.

_AHHHHH!!! NATHAN!_  
_I’m so happy for you. I really am. Tell me everything about him and send pics too._  
_It’s great hearing from you again, little bro. I’m back in the city at San Paulo taking a little break from things._  
_I don’t know when the next time I can visit you is and I know I haven’t since I left but I want you to know that I still care._  
_I hope everything is well and you’re just a couple months away from graduation! How cool!_  
_Good luck at Stanford. I’m sure dad’s really proud of you and really excited for you to go._  
_It’s nice to see you opening up more. If I’m going to be honest, I wish you would’ve done it more._  
_I hope we can keep talking like this. I miss you, Nate. Everyone really. Sometimes even dad. He still is our father after all._

_Keep in touch,_  
_Kristine._

Nathan smiles at her email but shortly replaces it with a frown. He contemplates about replying to her but he doesn’t want to deal with any of it and tosses his phone aside. 

He hears a faint knock on the door. “It’s open,” Nathan says with no effort.

Victoria slowly lets herself into the room. She’s in a long red dress and is wearing red lipstick to complement it.

“Sorry, I’m late. Taylor and Courtney were taking forever to help me in this,” she says referring to the two girls who are essentially her minions.

“It’s fine. You look great.” Nathan slips his phone into his pocket. “Let’s get this whole fucking day over with already.”

“Thanks for letting me be your date for tonight, by the way.”

“It’s no big deal. I was always going to bring you anyway.”

Victoria notices the dark circles under the boy’s eyes. She puts her hand on his cheek. “How are you feeling today?”

“Fantastic. It’s not like I relapsed and my boyfriend dumped me on the same day or whatever.”

“He didn’t dump you. He just said he wanted a break.”

“Pfft. Like there’s a difference.”

Before leaving the dorm, Nathan takes a quick glance at Warren’s door with a feeling of despair in his stomach. 

Victoria puts her hand on his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. He doesn’t hate you.”

Nathan looks to the floor. “I’m not so sure about that.”

By the time they were at the venue where the Pan Estates Gala is, he could already see the furious look on his father’s face even before he opened the doors.

“Why the hell are you so late?” his father demanded once Nathan was in the venue with Victoria.

“I’m only a few minutes late. No one’s even here yet.”

“Try twenty.”

Feeling the tension in the room, Victoria decides to speak. “It’s been so long, hasn’t it?”

Sean only looked at her for a brief second with a sneered look on his face before turning his attention back to his son. He looks at him from head to toe noticing something weird about his attire.

“What are you wearing?” Sean asks.

“What? It’s the suit your assistant gave to me.”

Sean grunts loudly. “Stupid assistants can’t do anything for shit,” he says to himself. “They were supposed to give you a navy blue suit, not the black one.” Sean begins to walk away from them. “Why can’t I find anyone good enough who isn’t a complete dumbass,” they hear him say. 

“Your dad seems stressed, and by that, I mean a lot more stressed than he usually is. Like since when did he care about the color of your suit?”

“I don’t fucking know. For all I care, he could be on drugs too,” he chuckles.

Victoria tries to fake a laugh but fails. “I know it used to be funny when we made jokes like that back then, but it’s not anymore, Nate. Not when you’re in this kind of state.”

“What do you mean ‘this kind of state?’ I’m fine, Vic. For real.” Nathan begins to follow after his father.

“I just want you to get the help you need,” she says, knowing Nathan wouldn’t be able to hear it. Even if he did, she’d already know how he’d respond.

When it hit 6 PM, Nathan was already at the front entrance, greeting the guests like his father wanted even when it feels like he’s dying inside.

“Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Adams. Thank you for coming to the gala tonight.” Nathan says as he puts the corsage around Mrs. Adam’s wrist and pins the flower to Mr. Adam’s suit. “Your table is Table Thirteen. Would you like me to show you the way?”

“I think we’ll be alright. Thank you, Nathan,” Mr. Adams tells him. “It’s good to see you.” He pats Nathan on the shoulder before walking off with his wife. 

The night has only just begun and he was already tired of faking a smile and saying hello to all of his dad’s friends and acquaintances. 

“Hello,” he says with his artificial smile again, greeting more guests. His face didn’t light up until he saw Rachel arriving with her family.

“Nathan!” She comes rushing in and gives him a hug. Rachel has on a blue dress, one that matches the feather she always has on her ear. 

“How are you feeling? Okay?”

He wished everyone would stop asking him that question. It's all he’s been hearing and he’s quite sick of it. He understands that they’re just concerned for him but he’s tired of everyone telling him it’s going to be all right when he knows for a fact that it isn’t. Nothing’s going to be the same to him.

“I’m fine. I just wish people would stop asking me that,” he says to her honestly while putting the corsage around her wrist. “Good evening, Mr. Amber, Mrs. Amber.” He shakes both of their hands and remembers to give them their corsages. 

“Nice to see you, Nathan. I came to visit your father here yesterday. Seems like I missed you just by a minute,” James tells him.

“Yeah, I had things to do. You guys are at Table Five, right over there.” Nathan points out their table for them. 

“I wish we could see each other more often. It’s always just your parents whenever we see them. Is your sister enjoying Stanford?”

Nathan was speechless for a moment, not sure how to answer his question.

“Dad, I think we should go to our table now,” Rachel tells her father. “And look, Mr. Prescott is right by it.”

“Sean!” James says as he approaches Sean with his wife.

‘Thank you,’ Nathan mouths to Rachel.

‘No problem,’ she mouths back and gives him a wink as she follows behind her parents.

After he finishes greeting the guests, Nathan goes back to his table that seats his mother, Victoria, and a couple of other executives with their spouses.

Sean gets up on the stage, holding a glass of champagne, tapping on the mic to test out the sound. “Good evening everyone,” his father greets the crowd. Not a single seat in the large venue was vacant. “Thank you for coming to the Pan Estates Gala. This is a brand new beginning for Arcadia Bay, opening up a whole new neighborhood in Prescott Development’s hometown to its growing population thanks to the prestige of Blackwell Academy.”

Nathan puts his elbow on the table and uses his hand to support his head while his father was giving his opening speech. He couldn’t care less about what he was saying now.

“Nathan, sit up straight,” his mother tells him and he reluctantly obliges.

“Now I’ll make this quick since I don’t want to take too much of your time,” Sean says, nearing the end of his speech. “I just want to give a quick thank you to our new partners at Roll Brothers who are with us tonight. Without them, the success of Pan Estates wouldn’t have been possible so cheers to them.” Sean lifts his glass and everyone in the room cheers. “Thank you and please enjoy tonight and enjoy the live orchestra!”

The conductor begins the music. As Sean heads to the table his family is at, the food begins to be served. Nathan didn’t even have an appetite despite not eating anything for the whole day. He just took little bites of the food given to him while watching everyone else swallow their food whole. At least that’s what it looked like to him. He didn’t even speak much but rather poking at his food and passively listen to the conversation that was going on at the table. 

As people finish their meals and start getting out of their seats to mingle or dance, Rachel comes over to Nathan’s table which is only occupied by him and Victoria. 

“Sweet gala, man,” Rachel says to Nathan.

“Shut up dude,” he replies jokingly.

“I’m serious, Nathan. You Prescotts really know how to throw a great party.”

“Nathan,” Sean says, approaching the table from behind. “Don’t just sit here, you need to start to mingle with these people.”

Nathan sighs heavily. “But, Dad–”

_”Now.”_

“I’ll see you guys later tonight?” Nathan says to the two of them.

“Don’t worry. We won’t dare have all the fun without you.”

Nathan gets out of the chair, letting out a heavy breath as he follows his father to make their rounds to each table. Ever since he got here, he was constantly doing all of the chores his father assigned him. 

“Nathan?” says a stockholder of his father’s company. “Wow, you’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you. How old are you now? Seventeen?”

“Eighteen, actually.”

While Nathan’s gone, Victoria and Rachel sit awkwardly at the table with neither of them sure of what to talk about. They don’t even look at one another. Rachel takes out her phone from her purse, and Victoria puts her elbow on the table, resting her head on her hand.

“Your dress is really pretty,” Victoria decides to tell her.

Rachel looks up from her phone in shock. “You’re actually complimenting me?” Her astonished look turns into a beaming one. “Yours is pretty fabulous too. I love the classic Hollywood look. You pull it off well.”

Victoria returns the smile as her face softens. “Thanks for helping Nathan, by the way, and thank you for telling me. I know I’ve been sort of a dick to you with this rivalry going on.”

Rachel starts laughing but covers it up with her hand. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.”

“Go ahead. I know it was something petty on my side. A one-sided rivalry would’ve been the correct term.”

“I always wondered what you had against me. I mean I’ve tried to be your friend. I try to be everyone’s but you always gave off this ‘I’m going to fucking kill you’ kind of vibe whenever I talked to you.”

“Well I guess I was always like that because I was just a little…” she clears throat. “Jealous,” she says quietly. “Everyone likes you, some people, maybe a little too much, but you’re basically friends with everyone. Me, however, it’s quite the opposite.”

Rachel chuckles. “My life is far from perfect. My family is...complicated to say the least. I thought that life was just full of wonders and bliss but it isn’t when you find out the people who you love the most have been lying to you your whole life.”

“Wow, I’m sorry. I didn’t know any of that.”

“A lot of people don’t. It’s not the first thing I share with people.”

“My family isn’t so great either.” Victoria looks down at her empty plate that has yet to be taken away. “My parents are going through a divorce right now. My mom found out my dad was cheating on her for a while now and I don’t know how to deal with any of it,” she says, struggling to get it out. “I haven’t told Nate yet because... well because he was too busy with Warren and at that time I just felt like I lost my best friend, even to you, you know?”

“How about this. Max, Chloe and I are planning to chill at the junkyard tomorrow. You can come hang with us if you’d like.”

Victoria furrows her brows and tips her head to the side a little. “Who’s Chloe?”

“Kari.” 

“Oh, right. Her.” She gives Rachel’s offer a thought. “Maybe. I don’t really like her and Max is well… Max. Weird and all.”

“Oh come on, she’s not that weird.” 

Victoria contemplates hanging out with Rachel and her friends. She figures it could be too bad. She won’t admit it but she actually admires Max for her photography talents. 

“You know what? Fuck it. Why not.”

Rachel smiles at her. “It’s gonna be hella awesome.”

“Hella?”

“It’s what they say down in California.”

“Then hella, I can’t wait.”

Rachel chuckles. “Close enough.”

Nathan’s only a little jealous that Victoria and Rachel get to relax while his father is forcing him to do things he’d rather not. Though he did find it interesting to see the two talking to each other without them clashing horns. 

While his father was busy talking to a guest for what feels like an eternity, he figures it was his chance to make a quick escape and head to the bar. Alcohol is just the thing he needed in his system after today.

“Hey, man. Can you get me a dry martini?” he asks the bartender.

“I need to see ID first,” he tells Nathan.

Nathan fishes for his wallet only to realize he doesn’t have his fake ID on him. He left it out ever since he decided to become sober and never put it back in.

“I can’t give you a drink if you can’t show me your ID.”

Nathan leans in closer to the bar. “Listen here. My dad owns this town. If you can’t get me a drink I’ll make it’s certain you won’t have your job the next day.”

The bartender scoff at him. “You’re Sean Prescott’s kid? Nice try, but your father gave me direct orders not to serve drinks to you specifically.”

Nathan curses internally. He looks around to find a distraction and see a woman nearby walking with a glass of champagne in her hand. Nathan walks close and intentionally bumps into her, spilling the champagne all over her dress.

“I am so sorry, Miss,” Nathan says to her. He didn’t even feel sorry at all. The bartender notices the mess and rushes over with a rag to help her.

With the bartender distracted, Nathan quickly swipes a bottle of vodka from the bar and walks in the opposite direction. He rips the cap off, tossing along the floor before drinking straight from the bottle. Should he at least try to become sober again? Probably. He just didn’t give a fuck right now. As Nathan approaches closer to his table, he feels a grip around his wrist. His father turns him around with the usual stern look he gives him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” his father says through his teeth. “You can’t be drinking.”

“Like you ever gave a fuck,” Nathan spits out.

“People here know you’re in high school. I can’t have a son who’s underaged drinking out in the open when there are so many people here who are integral to the company.” Sean forcefully grabs the bottle of vodka out of his son’s hand and points a finger to him. “From now on, just stay at your table until you are needed so you can stop embarrassing me.” His father pinches the bridge of his nose. “You know what, scratch that. Maybe now’s the best time to do your speech. You memorized it, correct?”

“Yes,” he says without confidence.

“Good. Let’s get you a mic and up on that stage.” 

Nathan follows after his father like he’s been doing all night. Before he gets on stage, he takes a quick shot that was left on a table he was passing by. 

“Good luck, son. I know you’ll do well,” his father says, handing him the mic.

Nathan doesn’t respond back and takes the mic from him and goes onto the stage after the live orchestra finishes their piece. He clears his throat which was audible through the mic. 

“Good evening, everyone.” The noise in the venue starts to settle down. “For those who don’t know, I’m Nathan Prescott, son of Sean Prescott, CEO of Prescott Foundations. I want to thank you all for joining us today on this special occasion and this great accomplishment my father and his company has made. Tonight we celebrate the beginning of change in this small town.” He wasn’t sure what to say after. That was the only part he was able to keep in his head. Nathan decided the only thing left to do was to improvise. 

“My great-great-grandfather Martin Lewis Prescott first came here in 1903 with Jeremiah Blackwell, the founder of Blackwell Academy, where they settled here ‘sharing’ the land with the Native Americans. But all of that was a lie. My dad told me they actually took the land from the ‘Indians’, as my father would like to call them rather than their more proper name.” 

Rachel and Victoria both gasp. “What is he doing?” Rachel asks Victoria who only shrugs.

“You know, my father told me a lot of things. Like how we fucking own this shit hole we call a town.”

“Oh my God,” Victoria says face-palming herself. 

“What the hell is going on? Cut him off now,” Sean demanded one of the stage technicians.

“You know, my parents, my dad specifically can be a real pain in the ass. That’s why my sister left for Brazil years ago because she couldn’t stand the shit my father-“ his mic was cut off.

The next thing he remembers was his father dragging him off stage and the orchestra starts playing again.

“What the _fuck_ was that all about,” his father shouted out. Sean was thankful the orchestra was loud enough to mute him from the crowd. 

“I did my speech like you said I was supposed to but I didn’t get to finish it yet so maybe I should go back on stage,” Nathan says to him before walking towards the entrance.

“Nathan, get back here right now.” 

Nathan ignores his dad’s call as he leaves the venue. Just as he was about to reach for the handle of his car door, his father spins him around by his wrist.

“Why are you so fucking stubborn?” Sean screams right into his face.

“Why are you such a fucking horrible dad?” 

Without a second to spare, Sean socks Nathan in the face, making him fall to the ground. As Nathan clenches his punch, ready to hit him back, the two of them hear a scream from the entrance. Victoria has her mouth covered by her hands with she’s full of terror. Rachel was holding onto her in shock of what they had just witnessed.

“Girls,” Sean began. “This is just a big misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?” Rachel repeats. “We just saw you punch him in the face.” Rachel looks over to Nathan who's looking away, clenching onto his jaw.

“No that’s not what happened-“ He tries to hold onto Rachel’s arm.

“Don’t touch me!” She forcefully removes his hand. “It’s best if you go back inside and walk away from all of this, right now. If you don’t, I will go up on that stage and tell something worse than what Nathan just did.” 

Sean looks to Rachel then down to his son. Without a word, he turns around to head towards the entrance. Victoria steps aside, not looking at him almost as if she’s afraid.

“Fuck!” was the last thing they heard from him before he was gone.

Rachel and Victoria rush over to Nathan’s side.

“Nathan, your cheek, it’s bleeding,” Victoria says with a shaky voice as tears start to come out of her eyes. She could see the waterworks in his as well. 

“I’m okay.” 

“Stop saying that. You’re not.”

“Do you want us to take you to the hospital?” Rachel asks him.

Nathan shakes his head. “It’s not that serious. I just want to go back to my dorm.”

“Do you have your keys?” Nathan slowly takes it out of his suit jacket and hands it over to her.

“Do you need help getting in the car?” Victoria asks him.

“I’m fine, Vic. My face might feel like a bitch but I can still walk perfectly fine.”

The drive back to Blackwell was dead silent. No one dared to talk about what just happened only moments ago.

“You didn’t have to do this, Rachel,” Nathan says to her, leaving the car once it was parked. “How are you going to get back home? And your parents?” 

“You don’t need to worry about any of that. I’ll just call Chloe.” 

“I feel bad just leaving you here to wait alone.”

“You shouldn’t be the one feeling bad whatsoever.” 

Nathan and Victoria part ways with her, walking back to the dorm while she waits on the front steps of Blackwell. 

“Do you need anything tonight or any help to clean your face?” Victoria asks once they were in front of his door.

“I just got punched in the face, why are you guys treating me like I’m handicapped or something.” 

“Nathan, we’re just concerned about you. Your dad hit you. How long has this been happening for?”

“I don’t need you or anyone coming into my business like that.” Nathan slams the door in her face.

He rests the back of his head on the door and turns on the light. Nathan scans the room for something that could relieve him from all this pain he was feeling. He couldn’t find anything until his eyes fall on to his orange pill bottles.

Nathan slowly walks over to his nightstand and untwist the cap. He stares into the bottle that's half full. Without a second thought, he chugs all the pills down his throat, each one feeling like they were giving him life. He falls onto the floor and puts a smile on his face. That was the last thing he could remember before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you all for reading!  
> Chapter 15 will be posted next week.
> 
> Check out the music that inspired the story here:  
> [Apple Music Playlist](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-music-of-breathe/pl.u-5W6lSVgJv4g)  
> [Spotify Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/33x4K6xbaYyv7NdArq5rdJ)  
> [My Tumblr](https://kaioticen.tumblr.com)  
> 


	15. Soon You'll Get Better

_Twelve Years Ago._

Nathan and Kristine race off the back porch of their family’s Fort Lauderdale beach house to see who could touch the water first in their swimming trunks and one-piece respectively. Even though they moved to Arcadia Bay a few years ago after their grandfather passed away, they still came here whenever the family needed to relax. 

Their feet hit the scorching hot sand but that didn’t bother them. They were used to it. Nathan never thought it was fair that Kristine was ten years old, four years older than him and more developed so he was always behind. 

Kristine jumps once the waves hit her feet. “Yes, I won!” she shouts, splashing around in the warm Florida water.

Only halfway there, Nathan slumps onto the sand, sitting with his fists against his cheek. He kicks the sand around with his toes until he sees his sister running up to him.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” she asks him.

“It’s not fair. You always win. You never let me win anything,” Nathan says, pouting his lips.

Kristine looks around the beach. She heads towards the water and reaches her hand in to grab something. By the time she returns to her brother, she reaches out the object in her hand. A sand dollar.

“Isn’t it pretty?” 

Nathan takes one glance and looks away, huffing at it. “I don’t want some stupid shell.”

“A sand dollar isn’t a shell,” she corrects him.

“I don’t care.” 

Kristine plops on the sand in front of her brother as he continues to look away and folds his arms.

“How about we have a sandcastle building contest?”

“Why does everything have to be a competition?” he snaps at her. “Why can’t we just do something together.”

“Do you want to build the sandcastle together then?” she asks.

Nathan raises an eyebrow. “Only if I get to put the flag on top when it’s done.”

“Deal.”

Nathan gets up and rushes over to get the bucket and pail. He also grabs a small, plastic shovel.

As Kristine begins to build the base of the castle, Nathan’s busy digging a moat around it, letting the water from the ocean flow into it.

“Ah, Nathan!” Kristine rubs her eyes. “You’re getting the sand in my eyes.” Nathan doesn’t stop and continues to dig. “Nathan, stop!” she begins to cry.

Their mother, Caroline, comes rushing out of the houses. “What happened.” 

“Nathan keeps getting sand in my eyes,” she says pointing to him.

“Nathan, you need to apologize to her,” his mother tells him.

Nathan drops his shovel and begins to cry as well. “I didn’t mean to do it.” 

“I know you didn’t but you need to be aware of the people around you. When you do something wrong you have to say sorry to that person.”

Nathan turns to his sister with his hands behind his back. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly as Kristen’s tears begin to dry up.

Caroline bends down to her daughter’s eye length and brushes the sand out her hair and face. “Come on, let’s get you both inside and cleaned up.” She holds each of her kid’s hands and they head back to the beach house.

After they each had their shower, Caroline puts out a plate of baby carrots, celery and a small bowl of ranch for her kids on the kitchen island. She figures that distracting them with a snack could let her have a short break after chasing after them all day. 

Nathan wipes his mouth sloppily with a dirty napkin and throws it on the table before jumping off the chair. 

“Nathan, wait. You need to wipe your hands before you get ranch sauce on all the furniture,” Caroline says to her son.

She grabs a towel that’s hanging on the oven to wipe his hands before Nathan goes running off. Afterward, Nathan grabs his Optimus Prime Transformer toy from the floor nearby and starts running around the house with it.

Nathan makes flying and laser shooting noises with his mouth with Optimus Prime up as high as his arms can reach. He keeps running faster and faster, not paying attention to where he was going until he trips and falls on one of his toys in front of his father’s office. Nathan looks up at the scene in front of him; his Optimus Prime toy broken. His eyes begin to well up with tears as he picks up his favorite toy with both hands as if it were a delicate being.

Nathan opens the door of his father’s office, trying to sniff up the snot running out of his nose. Sean was on the phone, staring out the window. He turns around as soon as Nathan entered and had an irritated look on his face. 

“Hold on, I’ll call you back,” Sean says before hanging up. “Nathan, I thought I told you to knock before coming in.”

“My…my Transformer toy is broken,” Nathan says through his crying.

Sean pinches his son’s arm to bring him closer to him, kneeling down to his height. Nathan audibly winces, dropping the toy by his father’s action before his father spanks him.

“Do _not_ interpret me when I’m on a call. And stop crying over some broken toy.” Nathan sniffs, trying to control his tears. “How can you be strong when you cry over little things like this, huh?” Sean slaps his arm. “I’ll buy another one for you later. I need to call these people back. Get out of my office and make sure you knock next time.”

Nathan slowly picks up the broken toy from floor, afraid of angering his father even more. As soon as he exits his father’s office, he lets the tears freely stream down. 

Caroline rushes over to him, bending down to him. “Nathan, what happened?” Nathan doesn’t speak and only continues to cry. Caroline takes a look at the broken toy in his hands. “You know, even heroes get hurt too but that doesn’t mean they’re weak. Come on, we can fix him up and make him look just as new.” Caroline takes a hold of her son’s hand as they walk down the hallway together.

~~~

Nathan's eyes open immediately. He lifts his head from the pillow and looks around the unfamiliar room. Everything was dim, bland, white, and depressing. There wasn’t even anything to look out through the window. Just pitch black, not even a street lamp could help. He looks down at his body and sees the hospital gown he’s in. Nathan’s unsure of how he got here or why he’s here in the first place. The last thing he could remember was going to his dorm room after the gala last night if it even was last night. He didn’t even know how long he’s been out.

Nathan gently lays his head on the pillow and slowly closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath and suddenly hears a voice that clearly sounds like his father’s from afar. He peaks open an eye but doesn’t see his father in the room, assuming he’s in the hallway.

“They were prescribed by his therapist.” 

“And do you know how he got that black eye?” Nathan hears, assuming it was the doctor speaking to his father.

“I’m not sure, I wasn’t there. He must’ve bumped into something or gotten into a fight with someone after he left.” Nathan scoffs.

“Your son hasn’t gotten up yet, but I will say that he was almost close to dying if his friends didn’t find him. I suggest he go seek help once we discharge him.” 

His heart feels like it just stopped. Dying? How close exactly? Nathan still wasn’t sure what happened.

He hears the door open and Nathan shuts his eyes almost instantly, pretending to sleep just as he used to do when he was a child. He hears two pairs of footsteps walking into the room.

“How long will he be here?” Nathan hears his father ask.

“Soon. Either tomorrow or the next day. We will give you a list of psychiatrists that we recommend your son sees.”

“He already sees his therapist regularly.”

“That’s not enough, Mr. Prescott. For Nathan’s sake, he needs professional help.”

“I understand.”

“He’s pretty stable right now and I’ll make sure to call you for any updates. I understand it’s very late but I must have you sign some papers before you leave. If you’ll just follow me to my office, we can get it done quick.” 

Nathan listens to their footsteps leave the room and shut the door. He slowly opens his eyes to make sure they weren’t there. He wasn’t even sure of how to take in the information the doctor was telling his father. He closes his eyes again, trying to think about all the possibilities.

By the next time Nathan opens his eyes, everything in the room was almost blinding with the sun shining through the window. He rubs his eyes and blinks a few times to bring it back to focus. He finds Rachel looking out the window with a cup of coffee, one that looks like it was from the hospital. Victoria is sitting at a table nearby, looking through her phone. She looks up from the screen and makes eye contact with him. 

“Nathan, you’re up!” She leaves her phone on the table and rushes towards him to pull him into an embrace. “They wouldn’t let us stay overnight but we came here the moment visiting hours started.”

“You had all of us worried and scared,” says Rachel.

“Why?” he asks in confusion.

“You had an overdose, Nathan,” she says hesitantly. “They had to pump your stomach.”

Nathan feels his breathing becoming heavy again. Everything was coming back to him. He remembers taking his pill bottles and swallowing everything that was in it. 

“I came to your room to apologize and when you didn’t answer, I opened the door and found you lying there.” 

Nathan couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like to be in Victoria’s position to find him unconscious on the floor. He thinks it was most likely traumatizing for her. 

“I called the ambulance and I knocked on Warren’s door for some help. I had no idea what to do. Rachel hadn’t left Blackwell yet so she was there too.”

It didn’t settle well with him to know that Warren had to see him like that too. Out of all the people, he never wanted Warren to ever see him in a state like that.

“Warren? Warren’s here?”

“I think he went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat, but he left some flowers for you.” 

Nathan looks to his side and sees a bouquet with various pallets of color on the side table with a note stuck inside. He could see Warren’s name written on it with his familiar, sloppy handwriting.

Nathan’s eyes begin to well up with tears just imagining what his friends had to experience. “I didn’t mean to put you guys through that.”

“Nathan,” Rachel begins. “We’re your friends. We just want you to know that we’ll be there for you. Even through all the bad stuff.”

“Even if it means helping you recover every step of the way,” says Victoria.

Nathan smiles at the two of them and then grabs the card from the flower. There was a little message inside written by Warren. As sloppy as his handwriting can be, it was always legible to him.

_Nathan,_  
_You’re strong and I know you’ll get better soon._  
_I believe in you and only wish the best for you._

_Warren_

Nathan smiles at the simple and short note in his hand. 

“He’s been worried about you all night,” Rachel tells him. “He didn’t sleep at all. Although, that could’ve just been Warren being Warren.”

“Yeah, Dad, he’s okay,” Nathan hears Warren’s voice say from a distance in the hallway and his heart jumps. “He’s still asleep.” He could see Warren pacing in the hallway with his phone to his ear. “Yeah, I’ll tell him when he wakes up … Love you too, bye.” Nathan sees Warren walking up to the desk, asking the nurse something.

Victoria notices Nathan watching him through the small crack of the opened door. “Do you want me to get him for you?”

Nathan looks down at his bed. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to see Warren yet. He’s still ashamed of what happened at the science fair and he didn’t want to see Warren’s face after his overdose.

Without getting a reaction from Nathan, Victoria wasn’t sure what to do. They hear the door open wider. Nathan doesn’t look up from his bed once he hears footsteps coming into the room. 

“Nate?” Warren says. 

Nathan looks up at him and smiles sadly. “Hey,” he says quietly.

Victoria and Rachel leave the room without a word, both waving Nathan goodbye as they walk past Warren.

Warren walks to the side of Nathan’s bed, ignoring the chair that’s there. “How–” he struggles to finish his sentence. “How are you feeling?”

“A lot better, thanks.”

Nathan notices Warren starting to play with his fingers. Warren won’t even look at him, just staring at the white tiles of the hospital floor. It’s as if he’s unsure of what to say to him. 

“I’m sorry,” Warren starts. “Sorry for you know, that night.”

Nathan shakes his head. “It was my fault. One-hundred percent. They were all my choices.”

“I think I’m at fault for not helping you more.”

“Not helping me more? Warren, you’ve done more than enough.”

“Not enough to keep you out of this hospital bed.” Nathan sees his eyes begin to water. 

“But for real, I’m sorry for ruining your science fair.”

“I wasn’t going to win anyway. Stella’s robotic puppy was pretty damn impressive.”

“I know you would’ve won if it weren’t for what happened.”

Warren chuckles softly. “Thanks.”

“Does your dad hate me?”

“My dad’s a pretty forgiving guy. He doesn’t tend to hate people or hold grudges. He’s just confused about what happened and why you did. My gramps on the other hand. That old man can hold a grudge on the littlest things. My dad said he hopes you’ll get better soon.”

“Tell Teddy I said ‘Thanks.’”

Nathan watches Warren standing there awkwardly and pats on the empty space next to him on the bed signaling Warren to lay down with him. Warren smiles at him and climbs onto the bed. He rests his head on Nathan’s chest and lays his hand on the boy’s abdomen. They soak up the silence in the room with the only noise coming from the air conditioning vent. Warren nestles his head into Nathan’s neck as Nathan begins to stroke his hair. Nathan couldn’t stop replaying the scene of imagining Warren finding him unconscious. 

“I got into Columbia,” Warren says to him quietly. 

“Holy shit, really?” He feels Warren nod. “I’m happy for you. That’s one of your top schools, right?”

“Yeah.” 

Warren closes his eyes and focuses on Nathan’s breathing, giving him a sense of tranquility. 

“This needs to stop,” Warren says to him quietly. 

“I know,” he replies in the same tone, knowing what Warren was talking about.

Warren lifts his head to look at him. “And you can’t just say that you’re going to stop. You need to get some help.” 

“I will.” 

Nathan closes his eyes for a moment, kissing the top of Warren’s head. He decided he didn’t want to hide anything from him anymore. Rachel and Victoria witnessed the assault first hand so Nathan figures it was time he knew.

“Warren…” Warren looks up at him, humming as a reply. “There’s something I need to tell you.” His throat gets choked up.

“What is it?”

“My dad… my dad, he…” Nathan struggles to form the words and Warren patiently waits for him to speak. “My dad hits me,” he says with a soft broken voice, almost like a whisper. 

Warren lifts himself off of Nathan’s chest to view him more properly with her brows furrowed. “Your… What?”

“Please, I don’t want to say it again.”

A tear falls down Warren’s face as he goes to touch Nathan’s cheek. “Is that how you got this?” he says, referring to the shiner.

Nathan winces at his touches. “Ah… Yeah, please don’t touch it.”

“Sorry,” he whispers as he quickly pulls his hand away. Warren leans down to press his forehead against Nathan, putting his other hand on his untouched cheek. “I didn’t know any of this was happening.”

“I tried my best to hide it from you.” Nathan wipes the tear-off from Warren’s cheek. 

Warren presses his lips against Nathan’s forehead before lying on his chest again, wrapping his arms around Nathan. “I wish I could’ve done something about it. I wish I could’ve done something to prevent all of this from happening.” Nathan runs his hand through Warren’s hair. “How long has he been hitting you?”

“Since I was a child, I guess. It’s to the point where I can’t remember a time when he didn’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying you’re sorry,” Nathan tells him. “But I think you were right. We do need a break.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “I don’t think I’m ready for a relationship yet. Not when I’m in this condition. And… and I think I’m going to go away for a little while.”

“To where?”

“I don’t know. I just need some time to be alone and think.”

“And you swear you’ll get help?”

“I promise.” Nathan kisses the top of Warren’s head one last time. 

They stay that way for the rest of the day and through the evening, only speaking from time to time. They don’t mind the silent times between them either. Even when visiting hours were almost over, Warren was reluctant to leave since he enjoys being in the company of Nathan’s arms. The only awkward time was when the doctor had to come in and check up on Nathan and he had to walk in on Warren resting on his patient's chest.

“I’ll promise to keep in contact while I’m away,” Nathan says to Warren before leaving.

Warren shakes his head. “You don’t need to do that.”

“But I want to.” 

Warren bends down to give Nathan a kiss, like how Prince Phillip kissed Princess Aurora. “I’ll miss you.” 

“I won’t be gone for long. Just a week or two and then maybe I’ll be ready.” Nathan gives Warren one last kiss before he has to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Soon You’ll Get Better](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMoW5G5LU08)  
> I’m not going to lie to you guys and say I didn’t listen to this song on repeat while writing this chapter.
> 
> We are halfway through with this story!  
> Chapter 16, “I’m the Universe and You’ll Be NASA” next week.  
> Thanks for reading this chapter!
> 
> Check out the music that inspired the story here:  
> [Apple Music Playlist](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-music-of-breathe/pl.u-5W6lSVgJv4g)  
> [Spotify Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/33x4K6xbaYyv7NdArq5rdJ)  
> [My Tumblr](https://kaioticen.tumblr.com)  
> 


	16. I'm the Universe and You'll be NASA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Slight Spoiler Warning!*  
> This chapter contains a character cameo from Life is Strange 2.  
> It has nothing to do with the actual plot of the second game.

The first thing Nathan did once he was discharged from the hospital was pack a duffel bag in his dorm room. He got to say goodbye to Warren before hitting the road. Where was he going? He had no idea either. Nathan just wanted to get lost in the world for a little bit. 

Driving along south of the Oregon coast, Nathan takes a quick peek at a photo of Warren that he put near his dashboard. It was the first photograph he had taken of the boy and he made sure to print it out before he left. 

As Nathan continues to drive into California, he passes a sign welcoming him to the Redwood National Park, mostly known for the tallest trees in the world. When he pulls into a rest stop, he takes a look at his GPS for nearby campgrounds, impulsively deciding to camp out on one of the grounds in the state park for a few nights. He didn’t even have a tent or anything else to prepare and had to get them all at one of the local stores. Nathan had no shame using his dad’s credit card, not that he ever did before, but now he really didn’t give a shit it was his dad’s money paying for his whole trip.

After he sets everything up at his campsite, surrounded by giant redwood trees, he walks a nearby trail with just a backpack and a camera in his hand. As he walks through the lush forest, he’s only reminded of the time he was lost in Yellowstone with Warren earlier in the year. Continuing through the trail, he spots a small snail, slowly crawling up a rock on the ground. Nathan kneels down to focus the camera on the snail and lowers the depth of field before snapping the photo.

At one point during his hike, Nathan stumbles upon an open field in which he thinks would be perfect for astrophotography for when it’s night. He hasn’t taken one since the beginning of the school year with Warren at the cove. 

Nathan sits on top of a log, scrolling through the gallery in his camera. Most of the photos he’s taken have been the subject of showing nature that is calm, blooming, and majestic, and occasionally Warren, but he realizes how much of his craft has transformed and grown artistically. At one point he believed those dark photographs of nature and people were his style until it changed and evolved into something else. 

Once the sky has gone completely black, small white, sparkling dots beginning to fill the entire sky. Nathan looks to the sky with admiration, wishing Warren was with him to see it all. He knew he would’ve loved all of it. With a flashlight set on the log, Nathan switches the lens of his camera on the tripod. He aims it up to the sky, adjusting his aperture and exposure. Once he has gotten enough photos of the stars, Nathan thought of one last composition to take before heading back to his campsite. He lowers the camera angle and walks about forty feet away from the lens. He raises both his arms up, forming a v-shape before the camera takes the shot. 

Afterward, he heads back to his site, pretending not to be afraid of whatever could attack him in the dark forest. Nathan sits on a blanket next to the fire he built himself as he edits some of his images in Photoshop. Nathan smiles at the photo thinking about Warren but it fades when he remembers about ghosting Kristine whenever she would reply to what he feels like are badly written emails to her. He opens the mail app on his MacBook and opens a new draft.

_Hey Kristine,_

His hands hesitate over the keys, unsure of what to type next.

_I know I keep on ghosting you every time I try to reach out and you reply but there’s just been a lot of things happening and sometimes I panic and I don’t know what to do. If I’m going to be honest, sometimes I wish you never left Arcadia Bay and you were still here. Maybe you could’ve helped me through everything that’s been happening._

_Remember that guy I told you about? My first real relationship that I actually cared about and I fucked it up but we’re doing a little better now. I’ll spare you all the details for now but I feel horrible about what I did. You probably would’ve sided with him and shamed me and lectured me like everyone else in my life did. I’m just relieved to know that he doesn’t entirely hate my guts. He just wants a break and it was probably for the best._

_Pan Estates finally opened and dad hosted a gala. I fucked that up too. I honestly didn't even regret it. It felt great and I would do it again anytime. He hit me. Again. I know...shocker. My memory fades after that but some other things happened. Things that I’m ashamed to say and I don’t even want to say it now. It’s difficult for me to talk about._

_I hit the road afterward. Drove down south into California. I’m camping out in the redwood forest for a couple of nights before I get back on the road again. Gorgeous trees I’ll tell you that._

_I just needed some time for myself and time to think and process everything. I’ve taken a lot of photos too. All I need is just me and my camera and I’m practically all set for this trip. I’m not even sure where I’m off to next._

_I hope I can see you again soon. Even if it’s through FaceTime or whatever._

_Miss you,_  
_Nate_

Nathan hesitates over the send button. He then clicks on the paper clip icon and attaches a photo of him and Warren and one of his astrophotography images. Without wanting to type anything else, he sends the email.

Nathan stretches his arms and lets out a yawn before heading inside his tent.

The next time Nathan finds himself on the road, he winds up in San Francisco. 

As he walks around Pier 39, he comes across a building that offers whale watching tours. Despite living in Oregon, Nathan hasn’t seen a whale with his own eyes. Mostly because his father didn’t want to pay to go on whale watching tours which he considered a waste of time.

Nathan sits with his camera in the back of the boat that’s full of families and tourists. He raises the camera to his eyes as they pass by the Golden Gate Bridge, admiring the sight of it until the bridge was no longer in view.

After waiting for what felt like forever to him, a humpback whale splashes through the water, rising to the surface. Nathan quick brings his camera up and takes multiple shots until the whale submerges into the water again. One another emerges from the water. He decides to put his camera down, lean against the rail and just watch the whales for the rest of the time. Smiling each time they come out of the water.

Once the tour was finished, Nathan sits outside a restaurant, eating a salad as he FaceTimes with Victoria.

“So you’ve never seen a whale before?” Victoria asks him and Nathan shakes his head.

“It was pretty neat,” he says as he stuffs lettuce into his mouth.

“That’s all you have to say? Just ‘pretty neat?’ I thought you’d be fanboying. You do listen to their music every night.”

“Oh shut up. Anyway, there was this obnoxious family that was sitting near me and their kids would not shut the fuck up with their screaming. Makes me question if I want kids myself sometimes.”

“Kids aren’t that bad.”

“I’m surprised to hear that coming out of your mouth.” Nathan takes another bite out of his salad. 

“Well that just proves you still don’t know everything about me. Besides, doesn’t Warren like kids?”

Nathan almost chokes on his salad. “What are you implying here? Vic, we’re just in high school. Calm down.”

Victoria laughs on the other line. “Sorry.”

“Anyway, how’s everything back in Arcadia Bay?”

“Everything’s pretty much the same when you left it. Prom’s coming up in a couple of days. Rachel and I have been arguing with each other about what the theme should be but we ended up mixing it together like this weird hybrid.”

“You got a date?”

“Warren.”

“Warren?” Nathan furrows his brows at the response.

“I probably should have told you earlier but yeah I asked him and apparently so did Max so we’re all going together as friends.”

“Why him though?”

“Because all the other guys at this school suck and Warren doesn’t… as much. Speaking of which I need to grab him and Max soon. I have to make sure our outfits coordinate with each other. I’ll talk to you later.”

Once the call ends, he asks a waiter who walks by for the check.

Over the next few days, Nathan spends most of his time exploring different parts of the city like Little Italy and Japantown, trying out food from different cultures. Aside from seeing the whales, his favorite part of the trip so far was seeing Alcatraz.

After spending some time strolling through Golden Gate Park, Nathan decides to rest at one of the many local coffee shops. As he grabs his order from the counter, he goes to sit at one of the tall chairs by the window. Nathan takes out his laptop and gets an email notification from his sister. 

_Hi Nate!_

_I feel the need to say that I’m really happy you’re opening up so much._

_I know when I was still there, you were like my best friend but you’ve always kept certain things away from me. Even though you also did in this email but I’m just glad that we’re talking again._

_I’m sorry, by the way, for leaving. Just like you, I think I need time to find myself and I guess that’s why I left for Brazil the moment I could. It makes me feel like shit that I couldn’t be there for whatever happened. I won’t pry it out of you but I’m here if you’re ever ready to talk about it._

_PS. You guys look so cute. I hope everything’s well._

_If you ever need something, please don’t be afraid to email me._

_Love you,_  
_Kris_

Nathan doesn’t even take a second to process the email in his head and hits ‘reply.’

_Hey Kris,_

_It’s okay. I understand why you did what you did._

_I’m in San Francisco now._

_Last night I went to see a show at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. I had no idea what I was paying a ticket for. It was an opera and what a mistake I made for not looking it up. Remember when mom and dad used to take us to the theater in Portland and it was always an opera? God, I hated operas and I still do. I remember whenever we came home, you would always jump on the coffee table and pretend to be like you were in the ensemble. Never understand what you liked about them. I always thought you were such an odd little girl._

_I was walking through Union Square the other day and there was this lady standing in front of the monument singing an opera song. I never walked out of another place so fast. I just get so many flashbacks._

_Call me some time. I think it’d be since to physically speak to my sister again after all these years._

_Nate_

Nathan closes out of the email and leans back in his chair to stretch. He opens Photoshop to edit some of the photos he’s taken on the trip. When he looks up from his screen, he sees a view of the Golden Gate Bridge right in front of him. Nathan sets his coffee on the table and reaches for his camera. Turning it vertically, Nathan snaps a shot of the bridge that’s in the background of various buildings. He smiles at the photo and reminds himself to send it to Warren later.

“That’s a really beautiful photo.” Nathan jumps at the voice.

He turns to look at the owner of the voice. He was a middle-aged man with glasses, brown hair, and a full beard. His body size was on the thicker end of the spectrum. He has a word processor open on his laptop. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that. But I really do love that photo,” the man tells him, referring to Nathan’s photo of a humpback whale. “The name’s Brody Holloway.” Brody lets out a hand for Nathan to shake and he accepts it. 

“Nathan,” he says. Nathan puts his bag on the ground and takes a seat. 

“Are you a tourist too?” Brody assumes.

Nathan nods his head and takes a sip of his coffee. He sets his camera on the table. “Just traveling around for a little bit.”

“Me too, man. Well, actually it’s my job. I run an online travel journal site.” Brody pulls up his website and turns his MacBook to Nathan. From the website, Nathan can tell the man has been around the country and all over the world. “I even got the chance to write a few articles for National Geographic.”

“Wow, that’s pretty impressive,” Nathan says as he scrolls through the site before giving the laptop back. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this but I think it would be a dream for me to be able to work with National Geographic.”

“Sorry if I’m being a little too forward but I’m curious. What brings you to San Francisco?”

Nathan pauses and takes a deep breath before sipping his coffee. “Had a fight with my boyfriend, some shit happened and I needed some alone time. We both needed it.”

Brody puts a hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “Fights are rough, but I’m sure you’ll get through whatever you’re going through. I had a fight with my girlfriend last month, well ex now. It obviously didn’t go well.”

“What happened?”

“Eh, I found out she was cheating on me. There was a lot of screaming, crying and finger pointing but there was something I learned from it. We just needed to talk this out. I wasn’t sharing everything with her and she wasn’t telling me how she felt the whole. We realized we weren’t right for each other and we found that out by talking. Point is, you guys are young and still have a lot to learn about love. Fights can be rough, but I’m sure you’ll get through whatever you’re going through.”

Nathan doesn’t say anything but smiles back at Brody. “I hope you don’t mind me asking but where are you traveling from?” Brody asks.

“Oregon. Arcadia Bay to be exact.”

“Arcadia Bay? I’ve driven through that place before. Man, Oregon’s like the edge of the world.”

“It certainly is. It’s such a small town that sometimes you forget there’s a whole world out there.” Nathan looks down at his camera. He never realized how much he’d miss Arcadia Bay just from talking about it.

Brody takes a sip of his coffee. “Did you happen to go to Blackwell Academy?” 

Nathan arcs and eyebrow. “You sure ask a lot of questions, Brody. I still do. I’m surprised you know about it to be completely honest.” 

“I don’t like to talk about it much but I was from a wealthy family back in Utah. They wanted me to go there for high school but I said no. I left my family because I couldn’t stand that lifestyle anymore. Everyone just seemed to poison my aura.” Hearing what Brody just said reminded him exactly of his sister. “Just me, my car, and the open road? I wouldn’t want anything more.”

“I know how that feels,” Nathan speaks. “My dad owns a huge business over there so our lifestyle was always extravagant. The moment my sister got her freedom, she left for Brazil. Honestly, I might do something similar. I can’t stand being around my family anymore. Especially my dad.” 

Brody raises his coffee cup. “Here’s to gaining freedom.” 

Nathan smiles and raises his cup as well. 

“Listen, kid,” Brody speaks again. “If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to contact me.” He hands Nathan his business card as he packs up. “I hope to hear from you in the future,” is the last thing he says to him before leaving.

Nathan takes a look at the card and snaps a photo of it before finishing his cup.

In the evening, Nathan sits on the bed in his hotel room. He looks to the alarm clock on the nightstand and realizes it’s already prom night for Blackwell. He hasn’t talked or messaged Warren since he last saw him at the hospital, aside from sending a few photos which he never responded to. Nathan thinks it might be worth giving him a call on prom night.

Nathan grabs his phone to FaceTime Warren who picks up almost immediately. 

“Hey, handsome.” Nathan gives him a wink and Warren almost blushes. “Why are you sitting by yourself?” 

Nathan could recognize the background. Warren was at the same venue where essentially everything in Arcadia Bay is held at.

“Hey, I didn’t think I’d get a call from you. There’s a slow song playing and I have no one to dance with so here I am sitting by myself.”

Nathan looks down and starts playing with the helm of the blanket. “You know I would’ve asked you to go, right?”

“I know. I wouldn't have expected anything else.”

“So I heard you have Max and Victoria as your dates for tonight.”

“Yeah. I could understand why Max asked but I thought it was kind of weird when Victoria asked me. Doesn’t she like that guy, what’s his name? Zachary? Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“Why are they now?”

“No clue but they just left me here alone at the table.”

Nathan gets off the bed. “Okay, get up and go to the dance floor.” Warren looks at him through the phone confused. “Just do it. Please.” 

He sees Warren get up from the chair and slowly makes his way to the dance floor. “Now what?” 

Nathan goes to stand in front of the bed and starts swaying, both hands on his phone. “Now we dance.”

Warren chuckles. “This is so awkward. People will think I’m crazy for dancing with a phone.”

“It’s not crazy. You’re dancing with me.” Nathan continues to sway in place in the hotel room, keeping his eyes on Warren. 

If someone told old Nathan that he and Warren would become a couple, he’d probably spit in their face. Now, Nathan is glad to have someone like him in his life along with Victoria and Rachel. 

“At least you’re in a hotel room where everyone in the whole school can’t see you,” Warren says.

“Is that Nathan?” He hears Rachel off-screen say. “Nathan!” Rachel pops her head on the screen next to Warren. “We miss you.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon. I miss you guys too.”

“You’re missing out on a pretty great prom.”

“Yeah, I heard you and Victoria mixed the theme together.”

“It’s essentially punk-rock meets The Crown. It’s pretty wild here let me tell you that.”

“Sounds pretty neat.”

“Sorry for interrupting. I’ll leave you two alone.” Rachel hands the phone back to Warren who appears on screen again. 

“When are you coming back?” Warren asks him.

“Honestly? No clue. I think I just want to be out on my own for a little longer.”

“You’ll be back before graduation at least, right?”

“Of course.”

Nathan could tell Warren was trying to say something else but he just can’t get the words out of his mouth.

“I miss you. A lot,” Warren says to him.

“Me too.”

“Oh, I saw all the photos you sent. They all look so amazing. Seriously, I think you’re really skilled.”

“Thanks but stop trying to change the subject and get back on the dance floor we weren’t done with our dance.”

~~~

Once Nathan arrives in Portland, he parks his car in front of a small building. He could feel his own stomach twisting and turning. In the building, Nathan walks inside a room where a group of people are sitting in a circle. They all turn their heads to him. Nathan swallows.

“Nathan Prescott?” a man standing by the group asks him.

“That’s me.” 

“You’re just in time. We were just about to start.” 

Nathan takes a seat and looks at the room around him. He can see the broken, shameful look on people’s faces. Ones that resembles his.

“Why don’t we introduce ourselves. Would you like to go first?” he asks Nathan.

Nathan looks at the floor, fiddling with his fingers. “I’m Nathan Prescott and I’m an addict.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [NASA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_aGvdfLTKY)
> 
> Just to give you guys a heads up, the next chapter won’t be happening for a while.  
> My personal life is starting to get pretty busy again and I have to prioritize other things for now. Thanks for understanding!
> 
> Check out the music that inspired the story here:  
> [Apple Music Playlist](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/the-music-of-breathe/pl.u-5W6lSVgJv4g)  
> [Spotify Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/33x4K6xbaYyv7NdArq5rdJ)  
> [My Tumblr](https://kaioticen.tumblr.com)  
> 


End file.
